Marquard and Maria are painters and lovers who live together. After Marquard wins an important prize, with a considerable amount of money attached, his creativity wanes. As Maria works on series of paintings, Marquard visits his friend Gregor, a horse breeder and philosopher, sleeps with the angelic Angie and visits his daughter Lucia several times. Marquard and Lucia, who have begun a tender affair, spend a few nights in a hotel on the coast where they agree not to speak a word. Maria, who has no idea, knows all the same. Their love is over. She abruptly stops work on her series, starts on a new painting titled «The Visible and the Invisible», and goes back to her old lover, Gregor.