In Liverpool there's a gang war between the Mods (who dress in the latest fashions and styles) and the Rockers (who are more into the '50s "greaser" look). Ricky, the son of a wealthy businessman, is a Mod guitar player, and in a gang fight with some Rockers, his girlfriend is killed. He leaves Liverpool for the continent and winds up in Rome, where he becomes involved with his father's mistress.

An amateur sleuth attending a prestigious girls' boarding school helps the police and her friends identify a serial killer who is targeting the students and teachers.@

A young widow flees from Rome during WWII and takes her lonely twelve-year-old-daughter to her rural hometown but the horrors of war soon catch up with them.