Based on a real WW2 episode. In 1944 in a small village in the Italian Appenines several inhabitants are executed in reprisal for a partisan attack on the German occupying troops. The lieutenant responsible for the execution becomes a priest and then a bishop and several years later he is put on trial for the killings.

Arriving in Santo Domingo to study new methods of cultivation of tobacco, Fabrizio is hosted by American Barrymore who feels compelled to provide Mayra, beautiful mulatta, as momentary escort.