On a September morning in 1943, Turi Giuliano and his best friend Aspanu Pisciotta travelled to the nearby town of Corleone to procure some food for his sister's engagement party. Black market laws were rarely enforced, but smuggling was another matter. In reality, all food that was given to the government storehouses was appropriated by the Mafia chiefs and sold on the black market for the citizens to buy the people of Sicily had to break the law in order to eat. Montelepre was a very poor town, and in this period, food was very scarce and often had to be purchased on the black market because of the strict rationing laws that starved the people of Sicily. In September 1943, the town of Montelepre was preparing for its annual festa for its town's patron saint. He is a very close personal friend of the Giuliano family, a mentor for Turi, and a man who caters to the Friends of the Friends (the word Mafia is rarely spoken in Sicily).

His godfather, Hector Adonis, a small man tormented his entire life for his small stature, was a professor of history and literature at the University of Palermo. He was born in the village of Montelepre, in the Province of Palermo.

The bulk of the novel focuses on the life of Salvatore Giuliano and how he rose to his legendary status as a bandit and hero to the Sicilian people. Turi's mother Maria Lombardo Giuliano gives Michael a Black Madonna statue as a gift as he parts. Michael is also told he is to be entrusted with Guiliano's testament. Michael is informed that Turi's pregnant fiancée Justina Ferra is heading to America first, ahead of Guiliano, and only when she sends word back that she is safe, will Turi leave for America. Michael is taken to Giuliano's house where he meets Turi's parents and Gaspare 'Aspanu' Pisciotta, Giuliano's second in command. Michael is told of a 'testament', a set of documents Giuliano has composed that would be damning to certain political officials of the Italian government if released. They discuss with Michael the details of his father's agreement to allow Michael to usher the bandit Salvatore 'Turi' Giuliano out of Sicily and to America. The novel opens in 1950 Sicily, where Michael Corleone, nearing the end of his exile in Sicily, meets with Don Croce Malo, the Capo di Capi or Boss of bosses in Sicily, his brother, Father Benjamino Malo, Stefano Andolini (the red headed cousin of Don Vito Corleone), and Sicilian Inspector Frederico Velardi.

The Sicilian by Mario Puzo