In this film version of the Ernest Hemingway novel, American Lieutenant Frederick Henry is serving with the Italian Army during World War I. He and Catherine Barkley, a Red Cross nurse, have a passionate affair. Catherine becomes pregnant as Henry is sent off to fight. She writes many letters to Henry - but Henry's "friend", Major Rinaldi, is jealous of their affair, and makes sure her letters never reach him. With her letters unreplied to, Catherine.