Two family clans have always been enemies; they spend their time hating and killing each other. The daughter of the Campos family and the son of the Mounter family fall in love, thus causing further hatred and deaths.

Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.