It is the year 1852 and Dolian Devland, the youngest son of the rich Davan and Dahlia Devland, is being convicted of murder and faces the death penalty if declared guilty. In Dolian's dissociated and detached state, he cannot recall doing the act, and contemplates how he got in his situation whilst craving the company of his beloved wife Rosemary. He begins to recount the memories of his life as he sits in the cell, and all the lovely and treacherous events that have lead him to his current predicament.