All three will test their endurance in racing, fight for their friendship, and ultimately discover what is most important in their lives. For Giulia it is about putting an end to bullying for Alberto and Luca, it is about finding freedom. In this coming-of-age story, the boys want to win a race, and they meet Giulia, a girl their age, who also is eager to win the race. It is small-town Italy, on the coast, likely near the area of Genova. Italy represented in the story is that of summertime in the 1950s or maybe the 1970s (at least by the songs of the soundtrack).

Luca meets Alberto and discovers the world of humans where the two of them find adventures and young friends who are like themselves in many ways. Luca is set in an Italian seaside town, where the ancients believed in sea monsters - and where children who are sea monsters might be in trouble today if they come out of the sea. Italian seaside, bicycles, beaches, family, and friendships