Synopsis:

When the Allied Forces begin bombing Rome in the summer of 1943, a mother and daughter are torn out of the normal routine of their lives. Cesira, a widow, decides to abandon her small grocery shop in the city and escape with her 15-years-old daughter to her home-town in the mountains. The two are very close and the proud mother joyfully watches the young Rosetta growing up. Then they meet Michele, a shy and introverted anti-fascist. He falls in love with Cesira, but it is the adolescent Rosetta who thinks of love for Michele. The Allies finally arrive and the German lines fall back. Thinking that the war is over, the mother and daughter begin the long and weary walk back to Rome. It is during this journey that the women’s private war begins. Moroccan soldiers attack and rape them both even though the mother desperately fights to save her daughter.
Rosetta retreats into a silent world of dreams and resentment. Cesira finds that she is unable to reach her. Rosetta goes dancing with a young boy and returns in the morning with a pair of silk stockings given to her in exchange for a night of love. The mother is afraid that Rosetta’s horrific experience of rape has made her indifferent to their traditional world of values, and that Rosetta is really lost to her. But another tragedy helps the mother and daughter come close again. They hear the news that Michele has been killed by the Germans. Rosetta finally breaks down and weeps in her mother’s arms.