Synopsis
1861. In the ex Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, during its occupation by Piedmontese troops, the itinerant tailor Peppino, accompanied by his faithful hound Rosabella, finds a badly burned woman alive amongst the charred ruins of a shack. The tailor nurses the woman, who remembers nothing about herself and her past, back to some semblance of health. She becomes his assistant, taking the name R – the only letter of her real name that she remembers. Together they travel around Southern Italy, which has been devastated by the war, living by their wits and what they manage to salvage and pilfer. In the meantime Murat, an alcoholic Bourbon captain, is captured by the Savoy army; to save his skin, he agrees to collaborate with the enemy, becoming judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one for the National Guard, hunting down the brigands who plague the area. The evil General Romano assigns him the target of the Drudas, a band of ruthless armed women terrorising and plundering the area. Maria, the brains of this very group, is saved by R as she is about to be led to the gallows. R, herself mistaken for a brigand, is also forced to flee and joins the band of women, which also consists of Lucia, a ruthless sniper, and Ciccilla, an unrepentant emasculator. During an assault on a farming estate, the Drudas take the pregnant Filomena hostage: she is the young daughter of the wealthy and hated landowner Don Masino. Assisted by Peppino, who does not approve of the kidnapping but is forced to collaborate to save his own skin, the group of brigands manage to enter Don Masino's estate, where an exchange is taking place of his gold for new Italian Liras, to sanction the annexation to the new Kingdom of Italy. The landowner's stronghold is therefore guarded by Piedmontese soldiers, captained by Romano, who are soon joined by Murat, who has been following the women's tracks. The armed battle which breaks out sees many casualties, but these do not include R, who manages to survive in order to fulfil a more important goal: to settle the score with her tormentor, who is also present in the stronghold. The woman's mysterious past indeed hides a secret, which little by little surfaces within her, revealing a terrible design for vengeance.