In 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, the family's seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education. Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly takes on a political dimension. But the Church and Pope will not agree to return the child, in their efforts to consolidate an increasingly tenuous power.