In Palestine (region) shortly before the end of the British Mandate for Palestine (legal instrument), the Haganah has learnt that a former German tank commander, General Gustav Schiller (Hans Verner), is teaching the Arabs battle tactics, but they are unable to locate him. Then they learn of the existence of his Jewish former wife, Judith Auerbach Schiller (Sophia Loren), and arrange for her to be smuggled into Palestine via the port of Haifa. She is placed in the care of Aaron Stein (Peter Finch), a Haganah commander, at a kibbutz.