Luca (Marcello Mastroianni) is a man who runs a mill and he is married to Carmela (Sophia Loren), a beautiful wife, set in Naples in 1860. But his wife's beauty catches the eye of Don Teofilo the Governor (Vittorio De Sica), who sets about to have Carmela. He has Luca arrested on trumped up charges, and then tries seduce Carmella. She resists, so he tells her he can free Luca, ...