Rome, July 1943. Captain Furio Niccolai, suspected of anti-fascist activity, is arrested and tortured by agents of the OVRA, the secret police led by Ugo Ruggeri. The President of the Chamber of Fasci Dino Grandi immediately works with the Duce to have Niccolai freed, who had saved his life on the Carso and who is recognized as a war hero. The captain is released at the behest of Mussolini and, upon returning home, tells Grandi that he was arrested because they wanted to know from him the names of those who were dissatisfied with the Duce in the army. One evening Furio Niccolai, while returning home, was attacked by OVRA agents and thrown into the stairwell, dying instantly. Grandi is worried about the situation and King Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoy suggests him to reunite the Grand Council of Fascism. Grandi takes courage and talks about it with the former President of the Senate Luigi Federzoni, not knowing that he is being monitored by Ruggeri.