Italy, 1947. Attilio is a Fascist and disgraced former movie star. Out of desperation, he joins a band of robbers for a heist. After the robbery, Attilio and the robbers take refuge in a house that proves to be deadly.

Aurora Rumelin is happy because the noble writer Leopold Sacher-Masoch has asked for her hand. Little by little the marriage goes into crisis mainly because Leopold asks his wife to beat him before sexual relations and to treat him like a slave. Both spouses have lovers and, in the end, the marriage ends in divorce.