In her feature film debut Melina Mercouri plays the title character Stella, a restless young singer who rebels against the values of a patriarchal society. The sexually liberated, working-class heroine finds her values tested when she falls in love with a young football player and must choose between her free lifestyle and the man she loves. Cacoyannis (who later gained fame as the director of Zorba the Greek) received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1956 for this passionate and energetic Greek melodrama.