 Adriana De Mauro (Sophia Loren) loves Cesar Braggi (Richard Burton), but Cesar, honoring his father s dying wish, allows his brother, Antonio (Ian Bannen), to marry Adriana. As fate wills, Antonio dies in an automobile accident. Adriana s mourning for Antonio ends when Cesar steps in to rekindle her lust of life. Soon, Adriana begins having dizzy spells. Cesar helps her to a specialist, and the diagnosis is not good. She has an incurable disease. For the rest of their time together, Cesar woos Adriana and eventually proposes to her on a gondola. Yet, for some reason or other, Signora De Mauro (Barbara Pilavin), Adriana s mother, is not pleased with the relationship and argues bitterly with Cesar. Director Vittorio De Sica s final film.