To seek work, Maria's husband was forced to leave their Sicilian village for Germany after the birth of their son. That was years ago, and he has never returned, though Maria knows he is still alive. This is a common situation in the poverty of Sicily, and the women who suffer from it are called "white widows." Maria has another friend, Carmella, who is in the same boat. Carmella thinks that since Maria's son is well into his teens, she has waited for her husband long enough and it's time for her to seek some male companionship. Maria finds company in the arms of a fine doctor but then is laid low by an illness. After she dies, her son is upset enough to want to make somebody pay for his mother's suffering. He makes plans to travel to Munich and confront his long-absent father, perhaps to kill him.