A woman suddenly announces her break with her husband by saying that she has 'had a strange idea... more like an illumination' Marianne surprises him with a seemingly spontaneous decision: she demands that he should go away and leave her alone with their eight-year-old son. At first, the man accedes to her request without objection; his later somewhat half-hearted attempts to return prove fruitless. It is the beginning of solitude for the woman, the boy and the man. Marianne has given up her everyday life and her security; she sets out carefully and determinedly to lead her own life.