Katarina Elg is young and free. She adores falling in love, but lasting closeness frightens her and she cannot accept being tied down. Independence is more precious than anything else. Then she becomes pregnant and decides, surprisingly perhaps, to keep the baby. Her mother, Elisabeth, is supportive, but her lover reacts violently, believing that the pregnancy is no accident. Is violence inherited, Katarina wonders, and if so, can it be inherited among victims as well as perpetrators? These thoughts lead her to approach her mother, and the two women open up to each other as the past is confronted and explored.