Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, their friendship quickly turns into a deeply passionate love affair that threatens to overtake them both. When Milena ends up in the hospital from an overdose, Alex is taken into custody by Inspector Netusil.

The norms of hospital practices are turned upside-down in this complex drama about how many rights are denied patients who do not conform. At the beginning of the story, a man is found lying on the side of the road and is brought in to the police station as a probable vagrant, but he has no memory and seems to have lost his powers of speech. Perplexed and defeated by their unsuccessful attempts to make him talk, the police send the man over to the hospital for examination by psychiatrists. After some time, it becomes apparent that he understands everything going on around him and is simply refusing to talk. This sets off a series of antagonistic actions on the part of the hospital staff, suspicious about his "purpose" in remaining silent. Although some explanation is discovered as to why he is this way, the supposedly sane doctors and staff come off looking like they may need treatment themselves.

Jack Radford and his wife Sarah no longer love each other, but money keeps their marriage together. Jack runs the Donnington real estate agency, which Sarah and her brother Edward inherited from their father. Edward, a failed concert pianist, has not been involved in the business for years, but now a real estate scandal threatens to ruin the family business. An apartment building in Spain has collapsed due to structural defects, killing several people in the rubble. The company was heavily involved in the construction and sale. When a dead body is found in the Radfords' pool, Cliff Jordan, nearing the end of his career, gets back to work. At first, all he has is a bloody kitchen knife in his mailbox.