Peter (Robert Atzorn) and Katarina (Christine Buchegger) 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? These are the questions director Ingmar Bergman's movie tries to answer.