This, the eleventh feature by Czech director Jan Kadar, was held up in production for more than two years— the initial shooting having been interrupted by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, resulting in the dispersal of the cast and production unit.

However, when the pressure eased in Prague, Kadar returned and was fortunate in rounding up his actors and technical team. Shot mostly on location on the banks of the Danube, the film relates the story of a fisherman who rescues from the river a naked girl, who is suffering from loss of memory. Until this time a happily married husband and father, he gradually becomes obsessed with the girl, confusing his feelings for her with those for his wife.

A moral man, he resists sexual temptation until it reaches the point where it begins to dominate his life. Then jealousy and sexual repression finally force him into action . . .