After the Allied victory in North Africa, a thousand Italian soldiers were sent to a remote island off the Scottish coast. After three years of constant threat of invasion, the inhabitants of the island are afraid of the prisoners; they see the Italians as bloodthirsty enemies. But for the two sisters, Dorothy and Constance, these are just exhausted poor fellows, sick and wounded, not accustomed to the cold of the Orkney winter. The girls help the prisoners as much as they can. After the death of their parents, the sisters relied only on each other, but after the appearance of Italian soldiers in the village, their closeness is threatened... And one fateful evening they will have to make a choice that will have devastating consequences.