This drama by director and screenwriter Maura Delpero is set during World War II, but high up in the Alps of Northern Italy, in the village from which this arresting film takes its name, the conflict feels distant – something gossiped about by old men in the local tavern. Were it not for the presence of an Italian army deserter hiding out in a ruined barn, and the occasional aircraft flyover, you might not know the war was on at all. In fact, you might not immediately grasp that this story is set in the 20th century, such are the unchanging rhythms and demands of rural life lived at the snow line.

Delpero focuses on one family. Patriarch Cesare Graziadei (Tommaso Ragno) is the village schoolmaster, a respected figure who also teaches illiterate locals to read. His family is a large one and growing larger. His wife Adele (Roberta Rovelli) is serially pregnant, though in this climate, a child’s survival is no certainty.

The film gradually homes in on two of Cesare’s daughters – dreamy Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), who falls for Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), the handsome but taciturn deserter, and the teenage Ada (Rachele Potrich). Lucia is utterly smitten...