When her teenage sweetheart ivan savage returns home from wwii, maria kinski eagerly accepts his marriage proposal, looking forward to a lifetime of happiness. But her joy is short-lived when ivans dark past shrouds their wedding night in misery, driving a wedge between them that neither knows how to remove. Confused and depressed, maria attempts to mend her true loves heart despite the advances of other suitors. But when a traveling musician carradine hits the right note, maria struggles to justify her unfulfilling life. Is her passion too powerful to be contained within the sanctity of marriage.