"It is the spring of 1943, and most of the young men of the village of Santa Cecilia have gone to war. For Vito Leone, time is short. A few months shy of the draft, he has begun to woo the beautiful Maddalena Piccinelli, the daughter of the town's most powerful family. No matter that her parents dismiss him as a mammoni, a mama's boy, or that her older sister has publicly called him a fool. Even his best friend thinks he's in over his head. But Maddalena sees the romantic side of Vito, his humor and tenderness. As the war intensifies, so do her feelings toward her unlikely suitor." When the Italians surrender to the Allies and the retreating German soldiers invade Santa Cecilia, everyone flees except Vito and his mother. Alone amidst the ruins of his beloved village, Vito, with ingenuity and boundless devotion, comes up with the perfect plan to prove himself deserving of Maddalena. The Piccinellis and the rest of the villagers return home after the war to find that Vito has made some surprising changes. Now, only one man - a visitor from America - stands in his way, and Maddalena is faced with an impossible choice.