Maurizio is a stubborn boy who grows up near the fiumara, where people throw away whatever they no longer need. This open-air dump becomes his playground, where among wrecked cars and other treasures large and small, he begins to dream of playing in the town band. Mamma Rosa looks on his musical aspirations as a childish whim, a luxury that the family cannot afford. And so, between the good advice by Mosè the donkey and the pranks by chicken N’Giulina, Maurizio is faced with a growing series of adventures and comes to the realization that, if his dream is to come true, he must be determined to see it through right to the end.
