The marriage of young, ambitious writer Nico Thomkins with Helen, coming from a rich family, is nothing more than a hardly concealed love-hate relationship. Because of Nico's aggressiveness Helen flees to the island Sylt and gets into a liaison with a lawyer, boyfriend of her new neighbor Clara. Left alone Nico starts to write again but then fantasy and reality get mixed continuously. Suddenly Nico realizes that since Helen's flight he and the house are watched by Clara. The papers start speculating about Helen's disappearance, finally about her supposed death. Meanwhile Nico, because of his aimless, hostile attitude, gets more and more under suspicion of having murdered his wife, but when he tries to discover Helen's hideaway on his own something horrible happens.