Leda, the flirt of Monsieur Marcoux is murdered. His wife and the police think, that the murderer was the milk-man, the friend of the maid, but Marcoux' daughter's fiance Lazo, who is aware of the corrupt situation in that family doesn't agree with them.
On the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence lives Henri Marcoux, a wealthy winegrower whose hatred-ridden family is held together by greed. Henri has escaped from the emptiness of his marriage by entering into an affair with Léda, a beautiful Italian artist whose home next door reflects the years she spent in Japan. Henri's conventional wife, Thérèse, is chiefly concerned with protecting the family fortune and avoiding scandal. Their young son, Richard, emasculated by his mother, has withdrawn into the world of music. Elizabeth, the daughter, finds some release from the family tensions in her love for her father's friend Laszlo, a vulgar expatriate anarchist who encourages Henri to depart with Léda. Thérèse, who finds Laszlo's presence intolerable, agrees to overlook Henri's affair with Léda if he will get rid of Laszlo. At the moment Henri decides to leave with Léda, the maid announces that she has been murdered. Suspicion falls on each member of the household, as the police ineffectually move in. Laszlo finally beats a confession from Richard, who committed the murder after he overheard a violent quarrel between his parents. Despite his mother's pleas, Richard, convinced by Laszlo, surrenders himself to the law.
