Hartley's conscientious assistant in Berlin receives weekly letters from her boss and sends him the books he needs as he struggles in Amsterdam to create the staging for Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's opera, "La commedia."
Louis Andriessen's opera, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, plays out as a combination of a stage production and filmed elements, which sees Dante as a journalist, Beatrice as a Diplomat and Lucifer as a factory owner.
