Since her husband pronounced her frigid on her wedding night, 嗄ntonia De嗄ngelis has been an invalid. When he disappears, she believes him dead she leaves her bed and takes over his business, traveling to see clients. She discovers her husband's passions, his political writing, mistresses, and his indifference to the peasants on her family's land. She improves their lot, begins an affair with a young foreign doctor, and publishes her husband's writings. 嗄ll this time, he's hiding from a murder charge in a house across the square. 嗄mazed, he watches her become his sexual and social equal. 嗄fter the police drop the murder charge, will he disappear, end his life, or rejoin her on new terms