One cold winter’s day Jacob and his sister Marie are abandoned by their penniless Dutch father. In his coat Jacob finds a note from his Spanish mother urging them to go to their uncle in Spain: ‘He’ll be able to help you’. After a hellish journey through the woods into the equally inhospitable city, they flee to Spain, only to find that their uncle is dead.
Much to Jacob’s dismay, Marie meets Diego, a rich surgeon, with whom she falls in love. Even after their wedding, Jacob keeps trying to tear his sister away from her new husband. When he realises that his efforts are in vain, he starts to provoke him directly.
But it soon becomes clear that Jacob’s defiance won’t go
unpunished.
