Eva is a widow bored with life, with her job as an architect, with her younger lover, and with her two teenage offspring. She is eventually assigned the job of redesigning the cells of a new prison, but even when her enthusiasm returns a little with the assignment, she is discouraged by the pseudo-intellectual stance of the prison warden and a non-communicative visit to her father. In an act of desperation, she steals some money and a gun - and fully intends to use them both.