Madeleine is a beautiful married woman, hopelessly attracted to her former lover, Jacques. This obsession leads to the destruction of her life and eventually drives her to suicide, while her husband goes insane.

Most likely made for the large Neapolitan immigrant population in the States, Roberto Leone Roberti’s love poem to Naples more than captures the heartache of the countless émigrés who were forced by economic circumstances to leave their homeland.

The film was originally called "The fires of San Martino". Left unfinished, it was finished in 1950 with the addition of some sequences.

The film was originally called "The fires of San Martino". Left unfinished, it was finished in 1950 with the addition of some sequences.

Assunta, a commoner of Naples, is scarred by her lover Michele for jealousy.