In this award-winning film, Robert Havinck is an attorney who wins his freedom from his unhappy marriage to Lydia when she commits suicide by automobile, conjuring up an auto accident to die in. Unfortunately, she took a complete stranger along with her, and a combination of Robert's having some small feeling of guilt at not having divorced her years before, and curiosity about her motives, leads him to team up with his fifteen-year old daughter Eva to explore Lydia's final days and her motives for suicide. As they investigate, flashbacks tell Lydia's story and reveal that Robert's arid lack of emotional warmth was a major contributing factor in her death.