In Dalmatia, police cooperating with the occupying Italians have arrested seven young communists. Their friends decide to free them. However, things go awry, some of the police are killed, and the Italians extract brutal reprisals on the villages of the people involved. After the war, the man who led the effort to free the young men returns home to a mixed reception by the villagers, some of whom will never forgive him for the pain his actions have caused them.

~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide