It is the summer of 1943 and two Italian soldiers, Fabio and Gino, are interned ina British prison camp on the island of Pantelleria Thanks to a providential airstrike by the Italian air force, they manage to escape. During the escape Fabiosaves Gino’s life and together they face the journey home. Fabio, who has noone waiting for him as he is an orphan, accepts the hospitality of Augusto, Gino’sfather, an administrator in Count Innocenzi’s landed estate in Tuscany. Gino alsohas a sister younger than him, Rosa. The life of the two young people resumes in thetranquillity of the Tuscan countryside. What disturbs their serenity, however, is thepresence of Ginevra, the young and beautiful daughter-in-law of Count Innocenzi,whose husband, Jacopo, is a prisoner of war and seems to have an interest inFabio. The boy cannot resist Ginevra’s charm despite the delicate friendship thatis developing with Rosa. The events of the war still come to disturb their lives. Thefascists, led by Uncle Piero, the hierarch of the village, begin the round-ups toround up stragglers and deserters by force. Gino decides to go to the mountainsto join the partisans. Fabio refuses to follow him and this will cause a rift betweenthem. Fabio, whose existence is unknown in the village, stays live on the estate.Until the night when the count, because of his friendship with Galeazzo Ciano,decides to leave the villa. Ginevra is forced to follow him, but first seduces Fabio;at a roadblock, however, Count Innocenzi is recognised and stopped. Ginevrakeeps silent to Augusto about the fate of her father-in-law but tells Fabio that inrelationship between them she has conceived a child that she must get rid of, andfor this she orders Fabio to help her.therefore orders Fabio to help her. The young man is tormented by the choice sheimposes on him, just when Gino, who has returned from the mountains, alsoneeds him. Fabio, albeit reluctantly, again denies her help and this time the breakbetween the two friends is final. While Fabio tries to prevent Ginevra from havingan abortion Gino and his companions are discovered and captured by Uncle Pierowho decides to shoot them. Only at the last minute does Ivo, Uncle Piero’s son anda lifelong lover of Rosa, shield her with his body to save her by being killed in herplace. When Fabio and Ginevra, having failed the abortion and grown closer,return to the estate, they find the bodies of Augusto, Gino and the others riddledwith bullets and hanged from a beam. Months pass, Ginevra’s maternity begins tobecome evident when one morning the villa is requisitioned by the Germans. Fabiomanages to hide and Ginevra obtains permission from the commander, CountGrefeld, to stay, relegated, however, to a wing of the villa. One evening, MajorGrefeld, drunk, attempts to abuse Ginevra. Fabio is forced to intervene and, aftera scuffle, kills the German major. The two flee towards the partisan camp whoselocation Gino had revealed to Fabio. There they find Rosa who still has much toforgive them both but does not oppose the decision to accept them. At first Ginevramanages to make him believe that little Anna, the child he had with Fabio, is Rosa’sdaughter, but later, pressed by Fabio himself and torn by the love she feels for bothmen, she confesses the whole truth to her husband
