Carlo Caremoli, Jean-Louis Trintignant, a 21-year-old exempt from military service, spends the summer in his father’s empty villa and relaxes with friends in Riccione, a seaside town untouched by war. When a German aircraft flies low over the beach, a wave of panic ripples through the crowd, and Carlo instinctively comforts a frightened little girl. She is reclaimed by her mother Roberta Parmesan, [Eleonora Rossi Drago], a 30-year-old widow of a heroic naval officer. The encounter sparks an unexpected attraction between them, a pull that grows as they spend time together.
Carlo and Roberta are drawn to each other, and he invites her on a trip to the neutral state of San Marino, even though he already has a girlfriend, Rosanna, [Jacqueline Sassard]. Roberta’s odds are complicated not only by competing loyalties but by warnings from Roberta’s own mother: she urges Roberta to steer clear of Carlo, signaling trouble in his family’s past. Carlo’s father, Ettore Caremoli, [Enrico Maria Salerno], is described as a vicious Fascist party boss, and the rumor lingers that Carlo’s mother was a promiscuous film actress—an accusation that shadows Roberta’s judgment and colors every choice they make. Roberta’s younger sister-in-law Maddalena, [Federica Ranchi], arrives as a refugee from the fighting in the south, and Roberta asks Carlo’s friends to let Maddalena join their circle.
The group heads to a circus, which is halted by an air raid, sending them back to the villa in a whirlwind of fear and relief. In the blackout, couples sway to the music of Temptation, and Roberta, after a moment of hesitation, yields to Carlo’s embrace in the garden. Their romance is momentarily exposed when Rosanna catches them in the act, a reminder of the challenges their affair faces.
As news trickles in of the fall of the Fascist regime, the mood shifts from fear to jubilation. Citizens sack the party headquarters and topple Mussolini’s bust, a symbolic rebirth that reshapes everyone’s fate. Carlo’s father flees, and the villa is requisitioned to house refugees, turning their summer sanctuary into a temporary shelter for strangers. That night, Roberta and Carlo make love on the deserted beach, their bond deepening amid the chaos that surrounds them.
Back at Roberta’s home, Maddalena and her mother express disapproval of the affair, while Roberta defends her choice, arguing that no one cared for her happiness when she was married to an older man, and that for the first time in her life she feels truly happy. Maddalena ultimately leaves Roberta’s villa, seeking a different path amid the shifting moral landscape of the postwar world.
A chance meeting on the beach after curfew brings them back together, but a tense encounter with an army patrol changes everything. They discover that Carlo’s exemption has expired, and he is ordered to report for service in Bologna the next day. Roberta, desperate to keep Carlo, persuades him to flee with her to her empty Rovigo villa and hide from the draft. The journey is interrupted by another air raid, and with trains cancelled, Roberta proposes a desperate plan: she must return to Riccione to fetch her daughter, leaving Carlo behind in Rovigo. Carlo stays, trying to explain why his place lies with the crowd rather than in exile, and he clings to a fragile hope that they will meet again. But Roberta’s reply is unwavering and final—she believes their parting is permanent, a poignant acknowledgement of a love that survived a brief moment in a time of upheaval but could not withstand the demands of history.
