When Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943, the country is being torn apart by the divisiveness of civil war and the brutal suppression of the Nazi Occupation.

      In the summer of 1920, four young Italians, who grew up together on the narrow streets of Rome, meet together and express their hopes for a new Italy as they set off on their life paths. Dominic, the entrepreneur, and his cousin Michael, the University student, believe that free enterprise and good government can eliminate corruption. Michael’s soul mate Gina believes in the ultimate goodness of people, including her old friend, Vincenzo, who thinks that joining the Fascists is the best way to help his country.

      With Italy on the verge of surrender, the lives of these four intersect once again in the town of Bracciano, a village on a lake outside of Rome. Dominic, having lost faith in the Government, is now a Partisan leader. He reunites with his formerly estranged cousin, Michael, who pretends to collaborate with the German Colonel Schmidt in administering the Occupation of Rome. Michael’s wife Gina tries to remain strong while her oldest son, Paolo, fights in Sicily and her seventeen-year-old, Antonio, yearns to quit school and join Dominic’s Partisans. The Fascist Vincenzo, disillusioned with his lack of advancement in the ranks, becomes corrupt, sending his son Salvatore into the countryside to strong-arm farmers for money.

      Salvatore is obsessed with eighteen-year-old Laura Bellini, the daughter of Davide, a banker who converted to Catholicism from Judaism eight years earlier. Gina’s son Antonio, who has known Laura since he was twelve, also loves her.

      When Salvatore and his men try to take the hidden life savings of two old farmers, Giuseppe and Sophia Polo, they resist by using a hidden shotgun. Sal goes crazy, kills the two farmers and burns down their house. Later that afternoon he runs into Antonio, Laura and her brother, Sammy, who are carting home scarce provisions secretly provided by Dominic. Sal makes advances on Laura, which she resists. He throws her on the ground and attempts to rape her while the others hold down Antonio and Sammy. Gunfire suddenly erupts from the bushes and Dominic’s men kill Sal and his accomplices.

      Back in Rome, Michael’s immediate superior, Colonel Schmidt, is a practical man who believes in saving German manpower by letting Romans administer their city. His dual nemeses are SS Major Botchner, who is obsessed with hunting Jews, and his partner, SS Captain Himmel, a sociopathic killer. Botchner insists that Michael provide him a list of all Jews, including converts. Michael realizes that while the Italians may have tolerated the Bellinis, the Germans will kill them.

      With Dominic’s help, he hides his Jewish friends in the secret escape tunnel of a Medieval Castle, which is a Bracciano landmark. Dom’s men then place four dead bodies inside the Bellini cottage and burn it to the ground. They blame the fire and ‘death’ of the Bellinis on Salvatore, who had burned down the Polo farm earlier that day.

      Vincenzo is obsessed with the disappearance of Salvatore and begins an investigation into the second house fire, suspecting the Bellinis are still alive and in hiding.

      In Sicily, American Intelligence becomes aware of increasing Partisan activity in the vicinity of Rome. Unfortunately, Communists fund many of these groups. While the Soviets are current Allies, a post-war Italy dominated by Communists is not desired. In early September the American OSS puts together an Army Ranger team to land in southeastern Italy, near Bari, and make contact with Partisan groups, which will lead them north to Rome. They will gather intelligence along the way and determine which Partisans are worthy of Allied help.

      The Ranger group includes Pietro Polo, the son of the murdered Polos, who is freed from an American POW camp to act as a guide. His American cousin, Frank Polo, a U.S. Army corporal who speaks fluent Italian, is also attached to the group as a translator.

      The Rangers’ trip through the eastern heartland of Italy becomes an odyssey as they become embroiled in the ‘war within the war’ with Partisans in full battle with Italian Fascists During this period, Pietro is reunited with his childhood friend, Paolo, the son of Gina and Michael. After four months of action the Rangers are finally headed through a secret mountain pass for Bracciano.

      In Rome, Captain Himmel begins to satisfy his dark urges by killing anyone responsible for hiding Jews. Major Botchner thinks that Colonel Schmidt is too docile towards the Italians and would like to replace him. Through two SS spies disguised as downed British Airmen he learns that Communist Partisans will attack a meeting of German Army Officers in Perugia. He knows Schmidt will attend the meeting but tells him nothing of the Partisan raid. Dominic also has knowledge of the raid and arranges for a bridge to be blown up along Schmidt’s route to delay his arrival in Perugia.

        Botchner wants the raid to partially succeed so that he will be given carte blanche to take reprisals on Italian citizens, so he orders an SS rescue team to wait fifteen minutes after they hear gunfire before advancing into the fray. As a result, many Officers are killed but Schmidt arrives a day late and survives. Botcher also murders his two spies so that he cannot be connected to the death of the Officers.

      Believing Schmidt to be dead, Botchner takes over in Rome and orders Himmel to begin reprisal killings of citizens. When Michael objects, Botchner takes him to a street corner and orders him to choose people to die. Michael refuses and Botchner puts a gun to his head. Vincenzo, now a Roman Policeman and loyal to the Partisan cause, jumps out of his car and points a rifle at Botchner’s head. The standoff is broken up by the sudden arrival of Colonel Schmidt, who orders everyone to stand down and stop the killings. Botchner wants to bring charges against Schmidt, but the Colonel knows of his part in holding up the rescue team and the Major backs down.

      The furious Botchner next plans to trap Michael and Dominic by planting information on Michael’s desk concerning a transfer of Jewish prisoners from Rome to a camp on the East Coast. Instead of prisoners, the trucks will be full of German troops. The Army Rangers arrive in Bracciano and by chance observe the exchange of troops for prisoners in the trucks of the convoy. They manage to warn Dominic to cancel his rescue attempt.

      While Gina’s husband Michael is away, Captain Himmel visits her and tries to force her to have sex at knifepoint. He is unaware of the secret blade that Gina has hidden in her garter, which she uses to kill him.

      Colonel Schmidt tells Botchner to pack up and find his own headquarters outside of Rome. Unfortunately, he chooses the Castle where the Bellinis are still in hiding. Antonio and Francesca, Vincenzo’s daughter, must run to warn the Bellinis to leave the Castle proper and get back into the tunnel. As a result they are all stranded in the tunnel with the SS prowling the grounds. The Army Rangers successfully rescue the group by digging out a hidden tunnel entrance near the lake and setting them free.

      In order to curtail increased Partisan activity, the German High Command orders their officers to begin reprisal killings of ordinary citizens. Colonel Schmidt feels that this is against the code of a German Officer and decides to resign his command and submit himself to a Court-martial. He also warns Michael and Vincenzo to flee the area before Botchner has them killed. One of Dominic’s Lieutenants convinces Schmidt to escape with them to the British Lines.

      The OSS, under pressure from Washington, orders the Ranger Team to liberate more than three hundred Jewish prisoners at a camp on the east coast before they are transported to death camps in Germany. Using Dominic’s Partisans, as well as a force from the British Jewish Palestine Brigade, the group hijacks the loaded prisoner train and drives it south-west towards the mountains. At the end of the line, the prisoners disembark from the train and are escorted by a large group of volunteers through mountain roads towards the British Lines fifty kilometers ahead.

       An SS unit led by Botchner surprises the small group of these volunteers, which includes Michael, Gina, Colonel Schmidt and Dominic. The SS Major is ready to execute each one, but it is he who dies at the hands of his own men in retaliated for the murders of the two spies.

      Before reaching the British Lines the Partisans and prisoners are ambushed by a large force of Italian Fascists and a fight to the death ensues. Just in time, a large group of Partisans arrives from the south, forcing the Fascists to surrender. The next morning the Rangers, Partisans and volunteers lead the Jewish prisoners through the British lines to freedom.

     Michael, Gina, Dominic and Vincenzo sit at a table and give a toast to their small victory which brings Italy a step closer to freedom.