赫伯特(拉扎尔·里斯托夫斯基 Lazar Ristovski 饰)是一名木匠,早年间,他的妻子去世了,直到今天,他都没能够完全走出丧妻的伤痛之中。一次偶然中,赫伯特邂逅了名为莉(汉娜·许古拉 Hanna Schygulla 饰)的少女,莉让赫伯特想起了自己的妻子。与此同时,莉也和赫伯特一样有着难解的心结,幼年时她不幸目睹了父亲杀死母亲的场面,自此之后,她便闭口不言。 赫伯特和莉结婚了,但实际上两人对彼此并没有任何的感情。随着时间的推移,莉的存在让赫伯特渐渐走出了过去的阴云,而莉内心里的坚冰也被赫伯特慢慢融化,久而久之,两人之间产生了精神共鸣。51-year-old Herbert Strehlow, a furniture restorer, falls in love with 21-year-old Lea, who has not spoken a word since childhood when her father killed her mother. She bears a striking resemblance to Herbert's dead wife. They get married, but their relationship seems doomed, until gradually each one manages to penetrate the mysterious world of the other, and they begin to realize that they are bound by a kind of spiritual relationship. For Lea it is the death of her mother, for Herbert it is the death of his first wife. His hard exterior slowly beings to thaw, and he starts to show feelings and responses that soften Lea's initial hatred and fear of him, and which put their relationship in a more positive light.