Hedwig is an unmarried woman who works in the countryside as a primary school teacher. Already at a young age, she frequently reports being ill. The pastor sees her as a lost soul; the doctor diagnoses a nervous disorder — and her family doesn’t understand her.

It is the turn of the 20th century — an old era gives way to modernity, and Hedwig is leading a quiet, solitary life. Her emotional outbreaks begin to increasingly unsettle those around her. Eventually, the rise of the Nazi dictatorship puts her life as a mentally ill woman in grave danger.