Beautiful, troubled Dominique Marceau came to bohemian Paris to escape the suffocation of provincial life, only to wind up in a courtroom, accused of a terrible crime: the murder of her lover. As the trial commences and the lawyers begin tangling over Dominique's fate, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Oscar-nominated La vřiť delves into her past, reconstructing her struggle to find a foothold in the city.

A well-off bookseller rescues a tramp from a suicidal plunge into the Seine and his family dedicates itself to reforming him. He shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations, challenging the hidebound principles of his hosts.