Peter and Katarina are at a marital crossroads, but, when he brutally kills a burlesque dancer, their domestic squabbles are rendered trivial by comparison. In the wake of the crime, the film backtracks, painting a portrait of the fraught union between Peter and Katarina. When does a marriage go bad? What causes a member of the German bourgeoisie to murder an innocent woman?
Mathias Ferner commits perjury and is thus able to secure the farm of his stepbrother Jakob as soon as he dies. In doing so, he deprives Paula Roth and the children of their inheritance. However, there is a letter incriminating Mathias Ferner. Years later, Paula Roth gets her hands on this letter.
Bettina Sanden, a solo dancer at the opera, falls ill with polio. The chances of a cure look rather slim.
