sense of total womanhood that has eluded her in her marriage.

When Silvio returns to Rome on business, Clara is torn between her longings as a woman and her sense of convention as a wife. Minnie, blase and caustic, encourages a liaison. But it is Giancarlo, the young man with what he terms middle class sexual morality, who is the true catalyst in the relationship. He accosts Clara in town, taunting her with a bottle of tranquilizers she has purchased and telling her that her tension is sexual, and needs the form of release he can give her. Later, in a beach house, where she is changing, Giancarlo confronts her again. His words upset Clara, but his touch on her naked body draws her into a web of desire from which she can not escape.

In the boy's bed and in his arms, Clara, for the first time in her life, experiences a total orgasm. The feelings Giancarlo has awakened in her, both physical and psychological, are impossible for Clara to verbalize, and impossible to deny.

Clara becomes a Woman on Fire with sexual need, and as the summer passes, she abandons herself completely to Giancarlo. The changes in her sister surprises even the sexually sophisticated Minnie, who can no more hide her jealousy than Clara can hide her longings.

There are other, younger girls in Giancarlo's life, Clara knows, but through his guidance toward the sexual freedom of both her mind and body, he has convinced her to accept them without jealousy.

Clara returns from an evening out with Giancarlo and Marina and finds her husband waiting with news of a promotion that will mean a move to America. It is 3:00 AM, and although Silvio questions his wife, he doesn't seem disturbed by her returning so late. Clara begs Silvio to stay, longing to tell him what she has already told her young lover, in the hopes that her new sexual knowledge will close the widening gap in her married life. But, Silvio returns to Rome, promising to talk to her when he comes back to the beach.

In the following days, the last of summer, Clara tries to break off her relationship with Giancarlo, but she can not. She sees him for a final time shortly before Silvio arrives for the weekend, and the young beach attendant sends her to her husband with advice that sex is something to be enjoyed, not hidden in shadows of guilt.

Clara confronts Silvio with the truth, and begs him to understand that she slept with Giancarlo for the sake of her marriage, and for her husband.

Her explanation and pleas for compassion enrage Silvio ...