Phaedra (Sophia Loren) is a poor Greek Sponge diving on the island of Hydra (island). She works from the boat of her boyfriend, Rhif (Jorge Mistral), an illegal immigrant from Albania. She accidentally finds an ancient Greek statue of a boy riding a dolphin on the bottom of the Aegean Sea. Her efforts to sell it to the highest bidder lead her to two competing individuals: Dr. James Calder (Alan Ladd), an honest archaeologist who will surrender it to Greek authorities, and Victor Parmalee (Clifton Webb), an aesthete and an unscrupulous dealer with a history of trying to acquire works of art stolen by the Nazis from their owners.