A beautiful woman (Ingrid Bergman, desperate to escape her miserbale life in post-war Europe, marries a young Italian soldier - a fisherman from the mediterranean island Stromboli. Upon arrival, she realizes that this decision means leading a life far from the one she was used to. Again, she is desperate to escape… Rosselini, bar the two main actors, uses people indigenous to the island as his cast. Its reception in America prompted then president Edwin C Johnston to exclaim "The degenerate Rosselini has deceived the American people with an idiotic story of a volcano and a pregnant woman. We must protect ourselves against such scourges."