Alfred Raschke

Paul is 40, takes on odd jobs, and lives alone in a shabby dwelling. His hangout is a rough drinker’s bar with a jukebox and dancing. One day, he meets Lisa there. Lisa lives alone. Her husband is doing field installation work in Sudan. Paul used to be married. His wife left him years ago.

In this mystery/thriller based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith, Nico Thomkins (Udo Schenk), a writer, and his wife Helen (Anke Sevenich) are in the habit of playing games with one another. Even while they are breaking up, they are sufficiently in tune with one another to continue this practice. When the writer's wife takes off without leaving a note behind, people begin to suspect that he may have murdered her, and he plays along with this notion to the point of planting clues which would incriminate him. Obviously, no one with a shred of common sense would do such a thing, and these tricks get him into trouble. However, his troubles don't really begin until he starts to search for her in earnest.