A young married woman, abandoned by her husband who is too busy with his job, lets herself be seduced and goes to spend the night with her lover in a house located across the river. 

To return home, the next day in the early morning before the return of her husband who returns from a trip, she must cross the bridge. But a madman forbids her passage. She then runs to find a ferryman who asks her the price of the passage. She has no money. She explains and begs. He refuses to work without being paid in advance. 

She then goes to find her lover and asks him for money. He refuses without explanation. She goes to find a single friend who lives on the same side and who has always had an ideal love for her, but to whom she has never given in. She tells him everything and asks him for money. He refuses; she disappointed him by behaving so badly. 

She then decides to cross the bridge after a last vain attempt with the smuggler. The madman kills her.