Zurich, 1905. Nineteen-year-old Russian Sabina Spielrein is put by her parents in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from a severe form of hysteria and refusing to eat. A compassionate doctor, Carl Gustav Jung, takes her under his care and, for the first time, experiments with the psychoanalytical method of his teacher Sigmund Freud. Thus is born a sweeping story of love and passion, of body and soul, soaring to the utmost heights, but also plunging to the darkest depths of the 20th century.

A young couple gets ready for a ceremony. Emilia is not dressed yet and Pietro is struggling with his tie and also very annoyed about a speech he has to give. While they talk around their house, time travels back and forth revealing different phases of their life.