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.