Marc Bartoli is born to a Corsican mother who becomes a celebrated singer, fathered by a French American attorney during a brief an affair at the turn of the 20th century. He will spend a lonely early life in a boarding school after coming to Paris at an early age during the decade before WWI with parents separated by professional circumstances. Unexpected violence then fundamentally alters his life. Although this is the enlightened 1920s, Marc Bartoli is Corsican as are those involved in the incident. Rooted in Corsican culture, the vendetta as a system of generational blood feuds for seeking personal justice, remains strong. Vendetta for Bartoli involves not only exacting revenge, but also the means for surviving continual threats to his life.