Ruth is an attractive, independent woman in her early 50s who has always lived for her daughter. But Lea, now in her mid-20s, is starting to break away from her dominant mother. In this difficult and conflicting time between mother and daughter, Lea suddenly falls ill with multiple sclerosis. In Ruth, a terrible suspicion begins to germinate: Lea may have been poisoned by intensive contact with solvents in the printing house where she has a student job. When Ruth voices her fear, the company turns on the works attorney Robert. He turns out to be Ruth's old childhood sweetheart.