In a strict Prussian boarding school for girls, sensitive student Manuela von Meinhardis develops a forbidden love to one of her teachers, the compassionate Elisabeth von Bernburg.

On a trip to the New York Aquarium with her third-grade class, a teacher discovers a dead body.

In flashback from a ‘Rebecca’-style beginning: Ellen Foster, visiting her aunt on the California coast, meets neighbor Jeff Cohalan and his ultramodern clifftop house. Ellen is strongly attracted to Jeff, who’s being plagued by unexplainable accidents, major and minor. Bad luck, persecution…or paranoia? Warned that Jeff could be dangerous, Ellen fears that he’s in danger, as the menacing atmosphere darkens.