Delia is one of five children, growing up in a poor Italian village. She is 17, and dreams of marrying a rich man; she dreams of a grand apartment in the city and silk stockings. To escape her father's neglect and her mother's sadness, she begins to take the dusty road to the city every day, accompanied by Nini, her sweet and mysterious cousin. When Nini takes a job in a factory and moves in with a city woman, Delia sees another way of being. But when she discovers she's pregnant, she agress to marry the father, seduced by the promise of wealth and comfort. Nothing, not even Nini's desperate declaration of love, can stop her - but her rejection will be his undoing.