Suzy Bannion, an American ballet student, arrives in Germany to study at the Tanz Dance Academy in Freiburg. En route to the school, she sees another student, Patricia Hingle, fleeing in terror. The person on the intercom refuses to let Suzy in the school; as she returns to town, Suzy sees a disoriented Patricia running wildly through the woods. Patricia hides at a friend's apartment, where she reveals she has discovered something terrifying hidden within the school. She locks herself in the bathroom, only for an unseen assailant to pull her out on the roof and stab her multiple times, before tying a noose around her neck and throwing her mangled body through the apartment building's stained glass skylight. While attempting to alert other tenants to the murder, Pat's friend is impaled and killed by falling debris.