After years of sexual humiliation at the hands of her sadistic husband and his friends, a wealthy heiress struggles to regain her sense of identity. To that end, not only does she become ruthless in business, but also delights in sexually dominating her young secretary, Anna. When she attempts to exert her sexual power over a blythe traveler, Peter Smart, he turns the tables on her, and she finds herself at the mercy of an unfamiliar emotion: Love.

Police detective Paolo Germi and the mysterious Marisa meet each other at a dance hall. Germi is unsuspecting of the secret Marisa is carrying with her: adverse conditions forced her into prostitution. As Germi finds the young girl brutally murdered, he decides to go after her killers. During his investigation, he enters a world of intrigue and obfuscation that leave an endless trail of blood.

A fig tree located in the lands of a baron of the lower Po valley has for many centuries been the subject of worship. The baron, crippled and an atheist, one day sees a girl lying on the fig tree in a benevolent attitude and exchanges for the Saint Who was martyred there in the Middle Ages. Immediately the aristocrat converts and decides to give his belongings to a religious institute. In fact, he was a victim of a cheating and the "santa" is a prostitute who has given up on rage.