In Salazarist Portugal in 1942, two French refugees, Boris and Laura, are arrested by the PVDE, the political police of the regime. Inspector Vargas, seduced by the young woman, decides to hide them in his house: a closed hotel where he lives with his daughter, Ilda, and his wife, gravelly ill. Ilda discovers them and, tormented by jealousy, employs every means to see them disappear, precipating a tragedy.