The drama unfolds in Rome amid political turmoil and traces a sequence of betrayals and moral dilemmas across four acts. A political fugitive shelters with a compassionate painter; a ruthless chief of police seeks the fugitive while pursuing the painter's beloved, a celebrated singer. The chief exploits authority, surveillance and torture to force a brutal choice, manipulating the singer into sacrificing trust to protect life. The painter is subjected to a mock execution and the ensuing revelations of betrayal precipitate a desperate, fatal act by the singer, closing the play on a note of tragic inevitability.