Stéphane Blanchon lives a quiet life in Switzerland with his wife, Christine, until a young American boarder named Belle, who was living with them, is found murdered. Despite Stéphane's innocence, the evidence points to him, and he learns that Belle harbored romantic feelings for him. Suspicions mount against him; even Christine thinks he is the culprit. Stéphane's sanity begins to crumble, and he lashes out in unprecedented ways.
A former resident of the town of Peyton Place, now wealthy and powerful, secretly returns to the town and sets in motion a spate of killings designed as revenge for past wrongs.
In Provence , Father Caillé runs a family pension backed by his daughter-in-law Cora and a maid. The old man persecutes Cora for her assiduity until the day when she, in a particularly violent confrontation, knocks him down before the eyes of Gino, an Italian pensioner of whom she is in love.
A British Guianese engineer starts a job as a high school teacher in London’s East End, where his uninterested and delinquent pupils are in desperate need of attention and care.
Warren Quimby manages a drugstore while trying to keep his volatile wife, Claire, happy. However, when Claire leaves him for a liquor store salesman, Warren can no longer bear it.
Sultan and Mehmet are a newly married couple. They have dreams. They will take their friend Garip with them, move to Bozdag, buy a field, and have children.
Munich cab driver Herbert Sponer picks up American businessman Jack Mortimer at the train station. Suddenly Mortimer is shot while driving and Sponer has to try to avoid being suspected as the perpetrator.
March, 1945: The insecure and hesitant reserve lieutenant Felix Bleck receives orders to lead a transport of 40 prisoners to the Western Front, where the men are to be burned up in a punishment battalion.