A blind man has a lighter held up to his face

An army cadet accompanies an irascible, blind captain on a week-long trip from Turin to Naples.

Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.

A blind man in a dark room melts into celluloid, feeling with his hands the messy layers of processed reality.