A lonely schoolteacher (Audran) develops an inexplicable attraction toward an ex-army butcher (Yanne) who may or may not be a serial killer plaguing a small town...

Drawing on Hitchockian themes of exchanged guilt and shared secrets, writer/director Claude Chabrol constructs an extraordinary relationship between the two characters that marries unspoken self-awareness with constant suspense over the unresolved nature of their bond.