In Ferrara, in the sixteenth century, two rich young friends, Muzio and Fabio, a musician and a painter, fall in love with Valeria, one of the city's most striking beauties. Valeria, the daughter of a widowed noblewoman with little money, chooses Fabio and marries him. Muzio, devastated by his bad fortune, goes to Oriental countries and resurfaces a few years later. His new practices make him very mysterious and attractive to Valeria and her heart is soon conquered...