故事发生在第二次世界大战期间，为了躲避战火，坚强的母亲塞西拉（索菲娅·罗兰 Sophia Loren 饰）带着13岁的女儿罗塞塔（艾伦诺拉·布朗 Eleonora Brown 饰）离开了他们的故乡罗马，暂时来到地处偏远的小镇西赛罗定居。在这里，塞西拉结识了准备成为医生的小伙子米凯尔（让-保罗·贝尔蒙多 Jean Paul Belmondo 饰）。　　米凯尔是一个生性浪漫的男人，热爱文学，他教罗塞塔识字读诗，久而久之，罗塞塔爱上了他，可是很显然，米凯尔的目光始终锁定在塞西拉的身上。为了帮助塞西拉搞到食物填饱肚子，米凯尔来到了父亲的朋友家，哪知道在那里遇见了一个德国军官，德国军官强烈谴责米凯尔不上战场的行为，并且打算强行把他带走。

Professor Henri Faust, retiring after 50 years as an alchemist in a circa-1700 university, despairs at still knowing nothing of the true secrets of nature...whereupon his old acquaintance Mephistopheles, servant of Lucifer, appears and grants him youth and a new life. But with youth, Faust's interest is diverted from science to women. And Mephistopheles, who has taken on the guise of the elderly Faust that was, sets many snares for his young friend's slippery soul... Written by Rod Crawford