A group of German medical students is discussing the influence of various factors on the human psyche. Pharmacological agents can not only restrict an individual's freedom and destroy their free will, but also plunge them into fear and cause the disappearance of normal human reactions. This mechanism of psychological enslavement by political dictatorship was illustrated by the example of Lucia, a Chilean girl and supporter of President Allende, who was persecuted by the Pinochet regime.

The psychiatrist Simon embarks with his newly wed Paula on a wedding trip to Marmorera, the home of his ancestors. The body of a young woman is found on the shore of the reservoir. A little later, the same woman - alive but without an identity - was taken to the Psychiatric University Clinic Burgholzli in Zurich, where Simon works. The idea of ​​the film is based on a true story: in 1954 the entire old Marmorera was demolished and flooded to prevent protests against the planned dam above the village. Only the cemetery with the bones of the dead was moved.

Robert Tanner is a popular, courteous grocer in the provinces. No one believes the unassuming man to be malicious. And yet Tanner is seething. One night, out of the blue and with a strange calm, he kills first his wife Edith and then his young son Beni. The next morning, he leaves the place of horror with a strange feeling of liberation. On his "journey" he reveals himself to a strange woman and wants to face the press.

Sisters Maria and Anna live together. Maria is a most proficient executive secretary, encouraging Anna to finish her studies and start a career. Anna broods, threatens to quit university, takes pills, and keeps a diary. When Maria's relationship with Maurice, the son of her boss, starts to lead to love, Anna takes a selfish and drastic step that plummets Maria into solitude. No longer able to connect with Maurice, Maria does establish a relationship with Miriam, a typist at her office who becomes a surrogate younger sister. But Maria is intrusive as well as helpful. Can this or any relationship work out for this talented woman whose past seems to choke her soul?

15-year-old Beni falls in love with Fögi, a singer in a Rock band. As Fögi seduces him, he is only willing to follow him where ever Fögi wants to. But Fögi is a drug addict and pulls Beni deeper and deeper into the hell of drug addiction.