The time is the mid-14th century --- the Pope is now residing at Avignon, the Black Death is killing millions across Europe, and civil wars are adding to the turmoil and chaos. In this story adapted from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, a young teenage couple is sent to live in a nearby town by the man's uncle, in an attempt to keep them safe from harm. She is from the lower classes, and he comes from a noble family -- a family that opposes his choice of a future bride. While en route to the town, the couple's horses are stolen and they are forced to continue through the forest on foot -- at a pace that introduces them to a kaleidoscope of Boccaccio's characters, from masters of mysticism, to soldiers of the warring Papal armies. Somehow, the couple manage to get through this gauntlet of sorts, and they do marry. Just as they are ready to go back to Rome, they hear that there is an insurrection in the offing, and suddenly, their brief spate of stability is threatened again.

middle-aged woman, traumatized from the death of her adulterous lover, moves into a room at a New Orleans boarding house where the blind landlord becomes suspicious to her activities of continuing her affair with her dead lover

影片反映了意大利1816至1817年的历史。当时，在拿破仑政权垮台和维也纳代表大会后，意大利笼罩在开始全面复辟的气氛中。爱国的共和秘密社团间统治意大利北部的奥地利人和意大利封建贵族进行了殊死的斗争。影片围绕当时的一个革命社团“崇高兄弟会”和这一社团的成员、贵族富尔维奥展开。富尔维奥愤世嫉俗，隐退过着宫廷式的生活，但由于对自己的现状不满而参加了社团的一次革命行动，最后背叛了他的同志。