After being released from a psychiatric institution, a man tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his now-ex wife from the events that led up to his incarceration.
Berlin, 1923. Following the suicide of his brother, American circus acrobat Abel Rosenberg attempts to survive while facing unemployment, depression, alcoholism and the social decay of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
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?
