In a Danish village set in 1623, an old woman known as Herlof's Marte Dagmar Wildenbrück stands accused of witchcraft, casting a shadow over the tight-knit community. In the same household, Anne Pedersdotter Lisbeth Movin is married to the aging pastor Absalon Pederssøn Thorkild Roose, a man deeply entangled in the village’s witchcraft trials, and they share a home with his strict mother, Meret Sigrid Neiiendam. Meret disapproves of Anne—young, vibrant, and a constant reminder of the past that her son’s marriage has unsettled. Anne, compared in age to Absalon’s first-born son, Martin Preben Lerdorff Rye, lives under a watchful, sometimes icy gaze, and the atmosphere within the house is charged with unspoken tension.
Anne offers refuge to Herlof's Marte within the family’s walls, but the safety is fragile. Marte is soon discovered in the house, though there are questions about whether she had help or managed to hide herself without assistance. Marte holds a dangerous memory: Anne’s mother, who had also faced witchcraft accusations, was spared only because Absalon intervened, a choice that blindsides Anne with the realization of his power over life and death. Marte hints at a history where Absalon’s influence could reshape destinies, and Anne becomes increasingly intrigued by the old ways of fear and control.
When Martin returns from abroad, the dynamics shift abruptly. He and Anne are drawn to one another, and their attraction unsettles the already delicate balance at home. Anne longs for genuine affection, believing Absalon may not share the same depth of feeling for her, while Meret’s suspicions about Anne’s intentions begin to mount. The affair quietly takes root, and Meret’s watchful eyes miss nothing; even a quiet moment—Anne’s laughter in Martin’s company—triggers a storm of doubt in Absalon, who regrets marrying Anne without fully understanding her wishes and happiness.
The tension rises as Marte is tortured and, under coercion, confesses to witchcraft, including a claim of wishing harm upon others. Her desperate plea to Absalon intensifies: he must rescue her as he once saved Anne’s mother. Marte pleads a second time but refuses to betray Absalon’s secret, and she is executed by burning with the villagers looking on. Absalon bears the weight of guilt for having saved Anne’s mother while letting Marte face the flames, a guilt that gnaws at him as the trial and its consequences ripple through the lives around him.
As the couple’s bond precariously tightens, Anne and Martin grow closer in secret. Meret’s suspicion deepens into outright distrust of Anne’s true character, while Absalon’s internal conflict grows louder—he recognizes the cost of his early interventions and the loneliness of a marriage built on practical protection rather than shared desire. A violent storm erupts when Absalon is away visiting a dying parishioner, Laurentius, who had been cursed by Marte during her interrogation and is fated to die soon. Marte’s foretelling casts a long shadow over Laurentius’s fate and over the fate of everyone who has touched her accusations.
Back in the house, Anne and Martin discuss their uncertain future, and she reluctantly admits that she has wished her husband dead, though only conditionally—an admission that unsettles the room but does not yet seal their fate. On his return, Absalon feels as if he stands at the threshold of death itself, a moment of almost tangible dread:
> like the touching of Death itself.
The confession moment follows quickly: Anne reveals her love for Martin and admits she wishes Absalon dead. Absalon collapses and dies, uttering Martin’s name as life slips away. The next morning, Martin is plagued by doubt and fear about what his passion might have cost. Anne insists she had nothing to do with her husband’s death, perceiving it as providential relief from her unhappiness and the chance to pursue a different life.
At Absalon’s funeral, Meret denounces Anne as a witch, and the confrontation intensifies. Anne denies the accusation, but Martin sides with his grandmother, turning his back on his former ally. In a final, devastating confession, Anne admits on her husband’s open coffin that she murdered him and, with the Devil’s dubious help, ensnared his son in a dangerous fate. With those final revelations, her future feels sealed, and the story closes on a note of inexorable consequence, leaving the village to ponder the limits of power, love, guilt, and the price of safeguarding one’s own happiness.
