In a Danish village in 1623, the peace of everyday life is fractured when an elderly woman known as Herlof's Marte is accused of witchcraft. At the center of the storm is Anne, a young wife bound to Absalon Pedersson, a respected but aloof pastor who presides over the village’s witch trials, and who shares a home with his stern mother, Meret, a formidable presence who resents the disparity between Anne’s youth and her late husband’s former family. Anne’s kindness to Herlof's Marte sets off a chain of events that will test loyalties, blur moral lines, and threaten the fabric of the household.
Herlof's Marte seeks refuge in Anne’s care, and though Marte is later found in the house, there is a feeling that she entered not with help but by circumstance. Marte hints that Anne’s mother, who died before these events, was herself accused of witchcraft but spared thanks to Absalon’s intervention, a patronizing memory that casts a shadow over Absalon’s marriage and his motivations. This history awakens in Anne a fascination with power—an allure taught by Marte’s whispered legacy about life and death—and it reshapes how she perceives her own life with Absalon.
When Absalon’s son from a previous marriage, Martin, returns from abroad, the currents of attraction run anew. Anne and Martin are drawn to each other, and Anne begins to wonder if her marriage truly fulfills her, sensing that her husband may not feel the same depth of affection for her. The atmosphere grows tense as Meret watches, suspecting that Anne’s charm and the old stories Marte carries threaten to destabilize the family. The moment becomes more dangerous as Marte, under pressure, confesses to witchcraft, including a claim about wishing harm upon others. She tries to use Anne as leverage, threatening exposure unless Absalon intervenes to spare Marte from a guilty verdict—mirroring the way he once spared Anne’s mother. Marte’s second plea is fruitless, and she is burned at the stake while the villagers look on. Absalon carries the weight of guilt—he saved Anne’s mother but left Marte to die.
In the days that follow, Anne and Martin grow closer, and Meret’s suspicions intensify. Anne is heard laughing in Martin’s company—an act that seems to reveal a longing she had kept hidden from Absalon. He too begins to reflect on the life he has imposed on her, admitting that he may have taken her youth and happiness for granted and offering a heartfelt apology for the way he has treated her.
A violent storm then erupts while Absalon is away visiting a dying parishioner, Laurentius, whose fate Marte had foretold. Laurentius’s death appears shrouded in the old prophecies Marte spread during interrogation, reinforcing the sense that the past is intruding on the present with deadly force. Meanwhile, Anne and Martin discuss what the future could hold, and she allows herself to admit that she has sometimes wished for her husband’s death, though she stops short of endorsing such an act in reality. Absent at that moment, Absalon feels the weight of impending doom as he returns, sensing that Death itself is brushing against him.
When Absalon comes home, Anne reveals the depth of her feelings for Martin and confesses that she wishes him dead, a confession that shocks him into a collapse and ends with him uttering Martin’s name before he dies. In the aftermath, Anne experiences a mix of relief and fear, insisting that she had had no hand in her husband’s death and viewing his demise as a providential turn that might end her misery and deliverance from an unhappy marriage. At the funeral, Meret openly accuses Anne of witchcraft, and though Anne initially denies the charge, Martin’s allegiance with his grandmother shifts the balance. Cornered by grief and the weight of public accusation, Anne finally makes a grave admission: on Absalon’s open coffin, she confesses that she murdered him and insinuated that Martin was ensnared by the Devil’s help.
What follows is a tale of consequence and consequence alone, where love, loyalty, and the fear of ancient power collide. The community’s judgments, the tremors of old superstitions, and the ache of disillusionment converge to seal Anne’s fate. The story remains a stark meditation on desire, culpability, and the ways in which a single choice can unravel a life, a family, and a village that once prided itself on order.
