Lise, a mentally unbalanced middle-aged woman, travels from her home in Hamburg, Germany to Rome, Italy where she embarks on a fatal destiny that she had helped to arrange for herself – a premeditated search for someone, anyone, with whom she could form a dangerous liaison. Lise meets a variety of people during her journey and stay in Rome who include Bill, a lecherous British businessman that she meets on the plane to Rome who tries to seduce her; Carlo, a young man whom Lise tries to know more about; an elderly Englishwoman named Mrs. Fiedke whom Lise bonds with to go shopping; and Pierre, a Frenchman who picks up Lise hoping to seduce her as well.
The film is told in a non-linear narrative as throughout the film are scenes of the local Rome police interviewing all the people that Lise interacted with as well as investigating the reasons for her strange behavior that led up to her own murder.

保罗·卡瓦拉启用年轻的普拉西多和美丽的法国姑娘科琳娜制作的这部Giallo片，既诙谐又严肃。故事的场景虽是在米兰，而影片中却充斥着西西里口音的意大利方言，意在反映20世纪的60或70年代意大利中心城市的发展与人口流动的关系，以及资本主义社会背景、政治历史的混乱。