Set against the backdrop of World War II, the story follows a widowed shopkeeper, Cesira, and her devoutly religious twelve-year-old daughter, Rosetta, as they navigate the chaos of life in Rome under threat and occupation. When Rome is bombed, mother and daughter flee to Ciociaria, Cesira’s native rural homeland in the hills, hoping to find safety and a sense of normalcy away from the city’s upheaval. In the hours before leaving, Cesira quietly oversees her world for one last time, and a brief, fraught encounter with Giovanni, a married coal dealer in her neighborhood who agrees to watch over her shop in her absence, signals the fragile hinges of trust and survival that thread through their journey.
Once they arrive in Ciociaria, Cesira’s presence draws the attention of Michele, a young local intellectual with communist leanings. Rosetta, curious and searching for a stable figure in a world rattled by war, forms a strong bond with Michele, who becomes a kind of father figure in her eyes. The two women lean on him in different ways as the mountains around them bear witness to the strains of conflict. But the atmosphere of peril never truly lifts: Michele is later captured by German soldiers and forced to serve as a guide through the rugged terrain, a reminder of the ever-present danger that shadows every move they make.
With the Allies advancing and Rome liberated in June 1944, Cesira and Rosetta decide to return to the city they left behind. The journey back is interrupted by a brutal violation: the two women are gang-raped inside a church by Moroccan Goumiers, soldiers attached to the invading Allied Armies in Italy. The assault leaves Rosetta profoundly traumatized, her sense of self and innocence permanently altered as she becomes detached and distant from her mother, a child no longer in touch with the world she once knew.
Seeking shelter in a neighboring village, the two women face another crisis when Rosetta disappears in the night, throwing Cesira into a frantic search. She fears Rosetta has wandered off to seek out Michele, only to learn that Michele was killed by the Germans. Rosetta eventually returns, having spent time with an older boy who has given her silk stockings—a moment that shocks Cesira and spurs a mix of anger and dismay. When Cesira finally shares the news of Michele’s death, Rosetta begins to cry again, the child within her briefly resurfacing before the weight of war and loss hardens her once more. The film closes with Cesira offering quiet, steadfast comfort to her daughter, a poignant cradle of tenderness amid the ravages of memory and catastrophe.
