The first years of Pier Paolo Pasolini in Rome, 1951-1954. His experience as a teacher in a school of a roman suburb, "la borgata", where he founded the characters and situations of his novels: "Ragazzi di vita" and "Una vita violenta". The movie is a mix of fictional documentary, shot in black and white, and the testimonies of Attilio Bertolucci, Vincenzo Cerami, Franco and Sergio Citti, Ennio De Concini and Paolo Volponi.