影片根据一个真实的故事改编——普奇奥家族。这个富裕的布宜诺斯艾利斯家族索取赎金，杀人赚钱。根据阿根廷犯罪史上一次可怕的事件，电影剖析了罪恶的道德模糊性和平凡性。
警官秦SIR和妻子君如搬迁到一个小镇上，后来小镇连续发生了多起强奸案，怀疑对象集中到了村里的阿才和莫蛇两个地痞。可是随着案情的发展又都逐一排除了对他们的嫌疑。新迁入小镇的林医生行为令人捉摸不定，案发时他又都没有不在场的证据，遂成了新的嫌疑对象，拨开重重疑雾终于案情有了突破，可罪犯的魔瓜又伸向秦SIR的妻子君如。
Mari (Marina Vlady) runs a boardinghouse for girls who are in trouble, and Juli (Lili Monori) is a young married woman who is fleeing her passionate marriage with an uncontrollable alcoholic. She has brought her young daughter along with her. Though this is not allowed under the house rules, Mari makes an exception for Juli. Both women are desperately unfulfilled - Mari has a narrow-minded and passionless man for a husband, and Juli still loves her husband, whom she recognizes as a person she cannot continue living with. The two turn to each other for comfort, and each woman gains necessary insights into her own life in seeing the other's struggles. This sober movie by feminist director Marta Meszaros was not a rousing box-office success.
