Dr. Ascher is a physician in a large city clinic and has committed a lethal professional error. Although he is not found guilty of the charges of malpractice, he moves to a remote village in the South of Styria in order to forget everything and start afresh. As the villager's mistrust of the stranger gradually disappears, the sensitive intellectual remains obsessed with the feelings of guilt. However, through his confrontation with life in the country and his observation of man and nature, he becomes acquainted with the straitened circumstances under which they live and understands how violence is bred. For example, when rabies is rampant in the village, the inhabitants are so hysterical and afraid that they panic and drive a village ?character? whom they have always harassed to commit murder. Dr. Ascher leaves the village which he never really got to know.