Sandra comes back to Volterra, in Tuscany, the little town where she spent her childhood. She is with her American husband, Andrew. She wishes to pay homage to her father who died in Auschwitz where she was still a little child. In Volterra, Andrew meets for the first time Gianni, Sandra's brother. He soon realizes that Sandra and Gianni have a secret since their childhood.

After a long absence, 25-year-old Sandra returns to Volterra, an ancient, crumbling Italian town which dates back to Etruscan times. Accompanying her is her American husband, Andrew, a practical man who is puzzled by the volatile emotions of his wife's family. Foremost among them is Sandra's younger brother, Gianni, an unstable, would-be author who has attempted suicide several times, but only when Sandra was there to save him. His reunion with Sandra rekindles the passionate feelings he had for her during their adolescence, but Sandra feels only remorse and guilt. Also living at the palazzo is their mother, once a beautiful woman who is now ravaged by physical and mental illness. Although Sandra has ostensibly returned because the family grounds are being given to the city in memory of her father, a prominent Jewish scientist who died in a Nazi concentration camp, her real reason is to confirm her suspicion that her mother arranged her husband's deportation and subsequent death in order to marry Gilardini, the former administrator of the estate. Unable to comprehend the mounting tensions, Andrew makes an attempt to reconcile Sandra and Gianni with their stepfather, but having failed miserably, he leaves for the United States. Gianni destroys his autobiographical novel and then kills himself. After staying for the dedication ceremony, Sandra leaves to rejoin her husband.