1910 Pommerania - Germany Thomas von Farnow wakes from a menacing, erotic dream. It will stay with him through the summer holiday at his ancestral home and eventually unlock the true nature of his domineering father, Klaus. Thomas has failed his exams and left his boarding school in disgrace. At 18 he's come of age and now finds everything at home is subtly altered. His childhood friend, a country boy, has been made his personal valet. From now on they're master and servant. And his father is distant, Thomas' growing isolation is only lifted by his cousin Ellita. At twenty-five she's fascinating, glamorous and unpredictable. From seeing her as some kind of older sister destined to marry well, Thomas now feels her erotic charge. Ellita shows him her mother's sensual journal of years ago, when she had a passionate affair with an unnamed lover. Fascinated, Ellita & Thomas are drawn together as they try to discover his identity from the clues in the journal...