The film shows how Italy's historic national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (embodied by Renzo Ricci) leads a military campaign known as Expedition of the Thousand in 1860 and conquers Sicily and Naples. When the Bourbon monarchy has left Southern Italy, he supports Victor Emmanuel II of Italy who achieves a lasting unification under the aegis the House of Savoy. Roberto Rossellini has said he was prouder of this film than of any other film he ever made.
Vanina Vanini, a bored, spoiled Roman countess, falls in love with a dedicated young patriot who is in Rome to assassinate a traitor to the brotherhood of the Carboneria.
A traveling "corps de ballet" is stranded in a small Western town, where the town is being terrorized by an outlaw named El Diablo. In order to hold the town at bay, he is holding several citizens as hostages. In an exciting turn of events, a medical student and Lola Colt, one of the dancers, rebel against El Diablo in an attempt to rescue the hostages.
