Marina's sister drowned herself, her brother is both headstrong and weak, and her widowed mother has a reputation for sleeping around. Plus, Marina, who's family was rich before the war, is aloof: so she's the object of the jealousy and scorn of Hydra's young men, especially Christos, whom she rejected. She fears harassment whenever she leaves her house. When two Athenians on vacation board at Marina's family home, things come to a head: she falls in love with Pavlos, one of the visitors, and he with her. The young men in town stalk and jeer her; then play a cruel trick on Pavlos that goes awry with tragic results. Can any good come from the catharsis of tragedy?