A seemingly happy Swedish housewife and mother begins an adulterous affair with a foreign archaeologist who is working near her home. But he is an emotionally scarred man, a Jewish survivor from a concentration camp who found refuge in the U.S.,and, consequently, their relationship will be painfully difficult.
故事发生在一个地处偏远的小镇之上,汤姆(Robert Milli 饰)的莫名失踪让警员约翰(唐纳德·萨瑟兰 Donald Sutherland 饰)百思不得其解,富有责任心和正义感的他决定追踪此案。汤姆在失踪前曾经和一位名叫丹尼尔斯(简·方达 Jane Fonda 饰) 的应召女郎有着密切的联系,根据一封两人之间的情书,约翰来到了纽约。
在监视丹尼尔斯的过程中,约翰在这个神秘的女人身上发现了许多可疑之处,她似乎也正在追踪着什么人。之后,又一名受害人的出现让整个案件开始变得险恶起来,而随着调查的深入,一位名叫柯博尔(Charles Cioffi 饰)的男子浮出了水面,他是否就是约翰正在苦苦寻找的那个人呢?
A portrait of a man who analyses his life on his 44th birthday. The past and the present, the actual and potential developments blend in a dreamy vision. "The protagonist seems to assume that travelling in time is possible, and things happen in an imaginary, invented time which he fittingly adjusts and changes", said Konwicki in the Film Press News 1/1972. The film is a formally complex analysis of what is commonly referred to as the Polish fate. Awards: 1972 - The Warsaw Mermaid of the Film Critics' Club at the Polish Journalists' Association in the feature film category; Special Jury Award at the Lubuskie Film Summer in Lagow; 1973 - Special Award for Screenplay at the San Remo Film Festival.