 Lisa is hard-working, a judge in Vienna, exacting in her courtroom. She s also libidinous, energetic in drink, dancing, and sex. Her son Georg, of college age, lives at home. Her lover for seven years is Felix: dependable and attentive. While he s on a trip, she presides over the trial of a woman accused of seducing a boy of 15 and wounding him when he turns away from her. During the trial, Lisa meets Rudi, a law student little older than her son. They become lovers; she thinks it is love. Her passion disgusts Georg, embarrasses Felix, and leads to her overstepping a judge s role, defending the accused. Faced then with Rudi s fecklessness, her self control reaches the breaking point.