Its 1935. 16-year-old Somali Aden Scirè manages to pass the test to become a dubat, a soldier in the fascist army, and thus become Italian and escape his destiny as a shepherd. He makes friends with another Somali boy, Mohamed Raghè, who teaches him his first words of Italian, but his dream ends on his first day of service: sent as a sentry to Ual Ual, on the border with Ethiop...