Douglas Meredith, a middle-aged Scottish doctor on vacation in the Alps in 1932 with a young woman, Kate, whom he introduces as his wife. Douglas has brought Kate to the Alps for a mountain climbing trip. Douglas and Kate are absorbed with a psychological melancholy. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Kate has been in love with Douglas since she was a little girl and that she seduced him away from another woman. The flashbacks also reveal that Kate is not his wife, but his niece. But then, in their mountain retreat, climbing guide, Johann Biari, appears and he develops an attraction for Kate.