- A narrator introduces us to the story, saying it's a simple fable but not an easy one to tell.
- We time-warp to Italy in 1939. Ferruccio drives a country road while reciting a poem about giving into chaos and loving life.
- The brakes go out, and in a panic, Ferruccio wakes up his passenger, Guido.
- Ferruccio careens off the road and into a forest. The car emerges in the middle of a motorcade, now garlanded in branches from the trees.
- They drive through a parade meant for the king. Guido shouts and motions for everyone to get out of the way, but the crowd mistakes it for a Nazi salute and salutes him back.
- As they drive away, Guido—who's Jewish by the way—is flabbergasted at what just happened.
- The king rides up after Guido, his warm welcome already taken by another.