When he learns his days are numbered, old count Hervé de Kéraudren decides to hide in a secret alcove and to die there, just to annoy his heirs. As a result of his body not being found, the latter will have to wait for five years until they can inherit the count's money. Very upsetting indeed, all the more as they are required to keep up the Kéraudren estate in the meantime. To collect money, nephews and nieces organize a Son et Lumière show at the manor while busily looking for the missing corpse. But, unexpectedly, they get killed in turns. Murders or accidents?

Banned in its homeland for over two decades, this once controversial East German film follows the story of a young woman who begins an affair with an older man, only to discover he has a deeply personal (and political) tie to her family's past.