When Kate Fenn marries a young Italian medical student in London in the mid-thirties she finds herself, as Caterina d"Alessandria, in Tuscany when World War II breaks out. With her brother and brother-in-law in opposing armies, a husband imprisoned for his anti-Fascist activities and a small daughter to protect, Kate Caterina struggles to hold on to her sense of identity and her faith in a better future. This is a story of love, sacrifice and betrayal which gives a striking impression of what it was like to live through the war, and especially the civil war, in Italy.