 Documents the summer days in 2003 leading up to the running of Siena s Palio, a horse race around the city center, that dates back hundreds of years. Seventeen neighborhoods compete. This film follows the contrada of Civetta (owl), which hasn t won since 1979. We see that glorious victory, we meet people young and old for whom each year s Palio is life s most important event, we see the drawing that assigns a horse to each contrada, and we observe the feasting and pageantry beforehand. Then, the running of the race: will Civetta experience the elation of victory or the bitterness of loss?