Italy, during the growing unrest just before World War Two. Titina, a happily married woman, is widowed when her husband is murdered by the Sicilian Mafia. A lawyer, Spallone, returns home after 10 years and falls under the spell of the tragic widow. And so does Sammichele, the dead man's cousin and a small-time crook who hurries from New York on hearing of the murdwer. But their rivalry is submerged in more serious events when a fascist uprising drives them onto an emigrant ship.