In 1972 a family are on their way for a holiday in Essex. The parents argue and the son swears, making obscene gestures. So the father throws him out, drives on and crashes the car. The grandmother flags down a car with three men in it. Too late she recognises one as the man who shot a neighbour...

A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.