Set amidst the expatriate community of Florence in 1938 -- during the rise of Fascism on the eve of World War II -- a penniless, widowed young British socialite, Mary Panton, travels to Italy to take up residence in the villa of some absent friends, only to find herself embroiled in a love triangle and political intrigue. When her much older friend Sir Edgar, a career-oriented diplomat, asks for her hand in marriage, then departs for a few days while she considers his proposal, Mary meets some provocative Anglo-Americans at a dinner party. Shortly thereafter, she develops a relationship with one of them, a dangerously appealing American man to whom she confides her dark secret.