  Strong nonlinear effects combined with diffusive coupling may give rise to
unpredictable evolution in spatially extended deterministic dynamical systems
even in the presence of a fully negative spectrum of Lyapunov exponents. This
regime, denoted as ``stable chaos'', has been so far mainly characterized by
numerical studies. In this manuscript we investigate the mechanisms that are at
the basis of this form of unpredictable evolution generated by a nonlinear
information flow through the boundaries. In order to clarify how linear
stability can coexist with nonlinear instability, we construct a suitable
stochastic model. In the absence of spatial coupling, the model does not reveal
the existence of any self-sustained chaotic phase. Nevertheless, already this
simple regime reveals peculiar differences between the behaviour of finite-size
and that of infinitesimal perturbations. A mean-field analysis of the truly
spatially extended case clarifies that the onset of chaotic behaviour can be
traced back to the diffusion process that tends to shift the growth rate of
finite perturbations from the quenched to the annealed average. The possible
characterization of the transition as the onset of directed percolation is also
briefly discussed as well as the connections with a synchronization transition.
