Douglas Meredith (Sir Sean Connery) is a respectable married middle aged doctor with a terrible secret. He's been having a secret consensual incestuous affair with his niece Kate (Betsy Brantley) for some time now. She lives in the Swiss Alps and they have their badly needed privacy there. One day, Swiss guide Johann Biari (Lambert Wilson) shows up to take them mountain climbing. Kate shows a faint interest in this man, which worries Douglas. During the climb an accident happens and their lives are changed forever.