Elisa lives with her farming family amidst their olive groves. Throughout the region, trees have fallen victim to disease and must be felled, a disaster no one knows how to stop. Elisa wants to become a singer, but her family is against it: only her grandmother supports her. When Elisa goes to see her before running way, Rafaella tells her about her childhood, her mafia-arranged marriage, her love for a foreigner, and the pizzica, a tarantella-like dance she performs to exorcise the oppression of men. Does she flee with her foreigner, or will she bow to the imposed marriage? Will Elisa free herself to sing? Will men ever heed the message of nature?