Twenty-year-old Joseph and his sixteen-year-old sister Suzanne live in the merciless conditions of an intemperate foreign land with their widowed mother. Their mother attempts to exert a hold on her children by involving them in the family's run-down rice plantation. However the siblings seek liberation, and look for this in their romantic lives. Suzanne becomes involved with Michael and Joseph finds a love interest in Claude.
Silvana Mangano
as Suzanne Dufresne
Anthony Perkins
as Joseph Dufresne
Richard Conte
as Michael
Jo Van Fleet
as Mme. Dufresne
Alida Valli
as Claude
Nehemiah Persoff
as Albert Legros
Guido Celano
as Bart
Chu Shao Chuan
as Caporal
Yvonne Sanson
as Carmen
Larry Williams
as Roland
