In his debut film Michael Verhoeven adapted Strindberg's drama "The Dance of Death": On a lonely island in the North Sea, end of the 19th century, an aged couple makes life a living hell. Edgar (Paul Verhoeven) is a retired fortress commander, Alice (Lilli Palmer) a former actress who was never really successful. One day, Kurt (Karl Michael Vogler), Alice's cousin, and at the same time her former lover, joined them. Alice still loves him and hopes to escape Edgar, Edgar tries to win him as an ally, but Kurt is repelled by the undignified marital war of the two. Meanwhile, Judith (Ilona Grübel), the daughter of Alice and Edgar, reenacts the destructive relationship between the two with Kurt's sensitive son Allan.
—Jörg