After having lost her mother Magdalena was brought up on strict boarding school disciplines. When returning to her father, she is looked after by an educator who lacks the ability to guide the longing for love of an adolescent girl.
A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
1958: during the Russian campaign, a military priest is called upon to assist Private Baranowski, who has been sentenced to death for desertion, on his last night.