Aboard a ship early in the 20th-century, a middle-aged Italian tells his story of love to a Russian.
During the year 1673, Rome was besieged by poverty and violence. The rich Mr. Argante has two servants to look after him, while his wife is only waiting to see him dead to inherit.
Set in the 17th-century, an Italian nobleman weds an impoverished countess, who is wooed by the King of Piedmont and faces pressure from his entire court to succumb to his wishes.
