An aristocratic woman suffers a severe nervous breakdown and is subsequently institutionalized following a disastrous infidelity. She descends into madness while grappling with intense psychological torment and the fallout of her social and personal life.

Set in a bleak, filth-ridden provincial hospital, a disillusioned doctor begins to find the philosophical ramblings of a mental patient more stimulating than the company of "sane" society. As their relationship deepens amidst the grimy and decaying wards, the doctor's own mental health is called into question by his suspicious colleagues.