The story of Silvio Pellico who was arrested on the charge of carbonarism and conveyed to the Santa Margherita prison, then moved to the Piombi at Venice The sentence of death pronounced on him in February 1822 was finally commuted to fifteen years of jail in harsh condition, and he was placed in the Spielberg, at Brünn (today's Brno).
Emphasizing themes of female independence and the esteem due to the men serving in the armed forces, the plot involves a strong-willed young woman (Agnes Vernon) who defies her father in order to marry a soldier (Hobart Henly) instead of the well-to-do suitor preferred by her father.
A blind woman is cured by a doctor, but when her sight is restored she accidently mistakes her kind lover for his wayward younger brother and no one deems to correct her ‘fearing for her psyche’.