Victor Fransden (Johannes Meyer) is a businessman who takes out all his frustrations on his wife, Ida (Astrid Holm), & family. Ida accepts Victor's abuse & fault-finding until one day Victor's former nanny (Mathilde Nielsen) decides that she cannot bear to watch any more. She persuades Ida to leave Victor, & forces the erring husband to undertake all the household chores himself in an attempt to make him see the error of his ways. Carl Dreyer's silent classic was very popular in France & led to him being commissioned to make his masterpiece, ' The Passion of Joan of Arc', three years later.