Miranda (Serena Grandi) is an innkeeper living in a small Po Valley town of the late 1940s. She is left a widow after her husband is lost in World War II but she has been denying marriage, waiting (at least verbally) for her husband's return. Her lover is the transporter Berto (Andrea Occhipinti), but while Berto is away, she also runs affairs with other men, namely Carlo (Franco Interlenghi), an older and rich former fascist who buys expensive presents to Miranda and Norman (Andy J. Forest), an American engineer who works in the environs of the town. Meanwhile, Tony (Franco Branciaroli), an employee at the inn also has a deep interest in Miranda but she always insists on keeping him at bay.