August, 1944.
A transport of 100 Italian POWs arrives at a former Palm Springs hotel for the Hollywood elite that was purchased by the army and turned into a military hospital. Frances, 20, is engaged to Nicholas, a Marine deployed in the Solomon Islands. From a prominent do-good family, Frances volunteers with the Red Cross at the hospital to help wounded soldiers alongside her best friend Mary. She falls for Alessandro, an Italian POW and famous violinist in Europe, when he is admitted as a patient after being badly injured on a work detail.
When Nicholas returns to marry her, Frances must choose the right path for her future. Should she take the unhappy path and marry Nicholas? Or follow her heart and pursue Alessandro? The choice is not easy as her best friend Mary, her family and the locals in town consider the Italian prisoners to be traitors. When the war reaches its dramatic conclusion with atomic bombs dropped on Japan and revelations about Nazi atrocities, Frances not only breaks off her engagement but flees to Italy with the Red Cross not only to continue to be of service but to get some clarity and try to reunite with the love of her life.