A calculation used by insurers to assess the monetary worth of a life cut short, Human Capital questions the material and emotional value of both the living and the dead as it weaves a tangled web of greed, lust and death.

The film traces the financial and emotional entanglement of two Italian families; one bloated by the profits of lucrative hedge-funds, the other led by a modest estate agent who dreams of bigger things. Their relationship unravels around the onset of the financial crisis and the mysterious hit-and-run death of a local waiter, ultimately revealing both the financial and moral bankruptcy of each family.