A Bed of Stinging Nettles

Two young people, of different social backgrounds, who both had a difficult childhood during WW2,, struggle to make their marriage work. Sylvia, a laboratory assistant, is an up middle-class, religious, young girl who rebels against her abusing father. Her father, Adolfo Echevarria, a middle class artisan who believes his daughter would become a Spanish Countess when General Franco would be out of power, brainwashes his daughter about this tale, Sylvia do not believe. Sylvia struggles to find her identity as she live in a sordid building with her father who sexually abuses her and a mean stepmother. Sylvia needs to escape from her father and rebels by marrying Philippe who is the typical Parisian labourer who speaks slung and cannot hold a job. Philippe is full of anger from unresolved feelings from his childhood. He drinks heavily and become frustrated by his wife social and religious upbringing. She loves Philippe and believes that with love and patience she could change him to be a softer man. Being too proud, she refuses to show her misery to her three children and family, and struggles by herself to keep her marriage safe for the sake of her children. After many painful experiences and a trip to America, Philippe promises Sylvia to change when he decides that they immigrate to Australia. A devastated Sylvia wonder if leaving her country, family and friends is worth it and she would ever find the truth about whom she really is.