Synopsis

It is his sixth birthday and Carmelo receives a tree as a gift: a beautiful magnolia whose parents, two humble peasants, have planted for him in the courtyard in front of the house. Together with his tree, the child grows up happily in the Sicilian countryside while mom and dad dream for him a future away from the hard work of the earth. On the day of the harvest, however, a tragedy hits the Scuderi family: the father falls from a ladder and dies. From that moment the existence of Lucia and Carmelo changes. Forced to move to the city they live in the memory of happy days. The boy studies with profit and, after graduation, he enrolled at the university without ever forgetting the old promise made to the tree to return to live in the country. Thanks to his resourcefulness he obtains an excellent job in Turin. But the years pass, the commitments increase and Carmelo finds himself one day old and old, and without having been able to keep the oath made to his tree. One winter evening, leafing through an album of photographs, relives the best moments of his life, he sees the tree and, to stem the feeling of guilt for having forgotten his roots, he fantasizes about a parallel life in which he still lives with parents in the countryside. The flight of the leaves tells the fate and the passing of time through the lyrical and passionate story of the little Carmel who, to redeem the family, renounces his greatest good