Aristocrat Lina Schweizer from Interlaken, Switzerland meets a handsome lucrative dairy farmer named Hans Muller while learning to fly-fish in Zermatt.
They strike up a romance with various sexual interludes.
Hans proposes knowing Lina is already married. She asks her husband, Oskar for a divorce, and he refuses.
Lina's friend, Countess Zoe is afraid the affair would cause a scandal and disgrace the family. She informs Lina of Swiss law: that as the adulterer, Lina would never gain custody of her two children, and in fact, Oskar has the right to kill Hans.
Zoe also informs Lina's father, Count Bruer of Austria. He threatens to disinherit Lina if she doesn't go back to her husband.
Lina is tormented. Should she leave her husband and children for Hans? Or stay with Oskar, and secretly continue her affair?
When Countess Zoe learns that Lina is pregnant by Hans, she now sides with Lina, and convinces Oskar to let her go.
Lina is thrilled and rushes to tell Hans. Hans is happy, but not about the divorce. Why?
Lina is shocked when she learns Hans is already married and has five children. She feels duped by this “player”.
She is so distraught that she walks into town not watching where she's going. A horse carriage tramples her, and she dies.
Oskar seeks revenge. He grabs a gun and races to the farm. Just as he is about to shoot Hans, Hans informs him of yet another secret.
Does the secret make Oskar so enraged that he kills Hans? Or does Hans seize the moment and kill Oskar? Someone dies, but who, and what was the second damaging secret?
Comments
The set-up is well…
The set-up is well-structured but takes too long to evolve. There is no inciting incident unless it comes at the very beginning but I see no obvious connection. The conversation when the couple meet is great but it doesn't tell us a huge amount about the characters nor does it move the story forward.