The setting is an olive orchard in Sicily, where an olive quivers at the end of a branch, longing for his freedom. In the grass below, the orchard owner's daughter, Pina da Vita, has been seduced by the son of her father's enemy. From this unusual tableau is conceived our hero, Olivo Oliva -- part man, part olive, a bastard who grows up to be a prodigious killer and obsessive artist.