When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover. Hanna puzzles him with her odd silences, and then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student and Hanna is on trial for a hideous crime, but she refuses to defend herself. Michael realizes that his former lover may be guarding a secret she considers more shameful...