John Shilcott, a member of the English Parliament, a nervous, sickly man, has long since lost all energy for work, and only at times the increasing doses of morphine, which he injects into himself, give him the illusion of an influx of vitality. In his family life, too, not all is not well: over the past three years, he has become estranged from his wife, there is no spiritual closeness between them, and Ava Shilkott begs her father to help her get a divorce...