Victor Frandsen is a domestic tyrant. His wife Ida is very sweet and takes care of her husband and her children. But this is not enough to satisfy her husband. Mads, Victors' nanny when he was a child, understands that Ida is on the verge of a serious breakdown and persuades Mrs Krigger, Ida's mother, to take Ida away. When Ida gets sick, Mrs. Krigger sends her to the countryside to rest, prohibiting Viktor to have any kind of contact with her daughter. The movie tells with naturalism and austerity the social and psychological dynamics behind Dreyer's poetics' favorite themes.