Mobilization on the brink of the Second World War divides a husband and wife. When lawyer Frans van Loon is called up to join the mine clearance service he doesn't want to worry his wife and keeps it from her. His secretiveness leads her to believe he doesn't love her anymore. She subsequently falls for the charms of an actor. When Frans finds out, a violent quarrel ensues.

In 1936, Ophüls left France for the Netherlands, where he was ironically (or perhaps fittingly) granted an extravagant budget for this parable about the vagaries of capitalism in which a bank courier bounces between economic calamity and monetary bonanza. Not a penny was wasted, though, on the virtuoso camera movement and subjective compositions of renowned cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan.