West Germany in '50s is becoming an economic superpower. In such climate, Rosemarie is just one of many enterpreneurs who wants her piece of new fortune. She uses her charms to bring members of West German industrial elite to her bed. There she finds business secrets and later sells them to French competition. However, when scandal errupts, Rosemarie would find that she can't beat the system.
Werner von Basil, a Austrian intellectual, was captured by the Nazis in 1938. They want to break him to confess smuggling. Without any mental sustenance, the only thing left to keep his mind busy is an old tactics book for chess.
Told in flashback, the film recounts the events leading up to the killing of good-for-nothing Curt Jurgens. Warned by her friends and relatives that Jurgens is a bad job, impulsive Ina Kahr marries him anyway. His ceaseless philandering and abuse wears away at Ina to the point that she contemplates poisoning her husband...
