Loving Adults

The police commissioner begins telling his daughter a cautionary tale about marriage, setting up the moral through the stories of Christian and Leonora. He frames their relationship as a dangerous example to learn from. The daughter’s upcoming wedding anchors the story in the present moment.

Christian receives a late-night text that is supposedly from his business partner Peter. Leonora demands to see the message, growing suspicious. The moment plants the seed of doubt and secrecy that drives the rest of the night’s events.

In a flash of anger, Christian hurls his phone against the wall and it shatters. Leonora uses the destruction as proof of hidden secrets between them. The damaged phone becomes a symbol of the shattering trust in their marriage.

At a company office party, Leonora discovers Christian in an intimate moment with Xenia in his office. Xenia stares at Leonora directly, intensifying the sense of betrayal. The confrontation marks the collapse of trust and the start of a dangerous power struggle.

Christian attempts to break up, but Leonora refuses and threatens to report embezzlement to cover Johan’s treatments if he leaves. The threat weaponizes money and guilt, tightening Leonora’s hold on the marriage. The couple teeters on the edge of an irreversible break.

An old friend from school reveals that Leonora once had a boyfriend named Mike who died after falling off a cliff at an outdoor party. The revelation adds a dark layer to Leonora’s history and raises questions about loyalty and blame. The past begins to intrude on the present with dangerous consequences.

Christian confronts Leonora about Mike, accusing her of pushing him off the cliff. Leonora’s fury intensifies the conflict, and she demands that he call Xenia to end the affair. The confrontation escalates the marital crisis toward violence.

Christian waits along Leonora's usual route and ends up hitting a person with a company van, fearing it is Leonora but realizing he may have harmed someone else. He returns home and, to cover his tracks, pretends he has broken up with Xenia and plans to stay with Leonora. The night spirals into a web of deceit and fear.

After Johan’s high school graduation, Christian contemplates turning himself in to the police. He weighs the consequences of the night’s actions and the possibility of exposure. The graduation backdrop creates a contrast between hopeful progress and moral crisis.

Christian cleans the company van after the hit-and-run, a detail that does not escape Leonora’s notice. She deduces that he may have intended to kill her that night. The couple’s secrets tighten into a dangerous trap as trust erodes further.

Leonora confronts Christian with a confession: she killed Mike years earlier. The revelation reframes the crime as a long-buried motive rather than an isolated incident. She also pressures Christian to help her eliminate Xenia, pushing them toward a coordinated crime.

Christian and Leonora check in to a spa resort, and Leonora provides an alibi by recording him speaking and texting a breakup message. The couple uses the setting to mask their schemes and to reassert control. The luxurious facade hides a deadly plan under the surface.

At the allotment, Christian reconciles with Xenia and the two resume their affair. Afterward, Leonora goes to the bathroom and stabs Xenia to death, having deduced that Christian would not be able to kill her himself. The murder completes a grim triangle of betrayal and revenge.

The police interrogate the couple while finding the apartment clean and Xenia missing, triggering a manhunt with police dogs. At a Sankt Hans celebration that evening, Christian urges a friend to light the bonfire early, an ominous move as the investigation intensifies. The bonfire becomes a stage for concealing a body.

As the bonfire rages, the commissioner senses the truth about Xenia’s fate and resolves to intervene, but tragedy unfolds as Christian and Leonora watch the flames consume what remains of Xenia. In a final twist, the commissioner’s storytelling frames marriage as a cautionary tale, while the postscript reveals that Christian later disposed of Xenia’s remains by letting them drift into the water abroad. The story closes with a sense of melancholy and irreversible consequences.