Little Vittorio doesn't understand why the neighbours disapprove of his mother, but suspects it has something to do with the man she was with in the stable on the morning she was violently bitten by the snake.

But it becomes clear that it is Cristina's independence of mind and rejection of superstition that offend the peasant values in this remote village in post-war Italy.

Ever since the incident with the snake, Cristina is scrutinized by the townspeople as a "whore" who is sleeping around while her husband, Mario, is working and sending her money from America.

It is never clear as Cristina dies on the boat to America, but the blue-eyed man does pay Vittorio a visit in the infirmary in Canada, so one may assume this.

In 2004, in the novel was adapted into a television miniseries, entitled Lives of the Saints, in an Italian-Canadian co-production starring Sophia Loren, Fabrizio Filippo, Jessica Paré, Sabrina Ferilli, Kris Kristofferson and Nick Mancuso.