Annita 'Laila' Malavasi was an Italian partisan during the Second World War and one of the few female commanders in the resistance. She spent over a year in the Apennines, fighting against the German occupation. At the same time, she had to assert herself in the male-dominated Italian society. This film is a portrait of Laila and two of her comrades, Gina 'Sonia' Moncigoli and Pierina 'Iva' Bonilauri. It chronicles their experiences as they discuss the Resistenza and what it meant to them and many other women. This is a story of emancipation before and after Italy's liberation from fascism.