Georg H. is engineer and scientific director of a test institute. He enjoys his job, which is well-paid and full of variety. He is a good-humored, popular boss. From his marriage with Anna he has three children: Jakob (9), Christina (12) and Eva (21). The family is a happy one. Surely there can be no better shield against the anxieties of our time than success, health and the affection of those you love? A breakdown at a large chemical plant has led to a major leakage of toxic gas which has already claimed several lives. Corrosive gas has escaped into the environment, and men and women are being treated in hospital with serious symptoms of poisoning. Special units are engaged in making the site safe and rescuing victims. Georg hears this news on the radio while working in his office. The scene of the accident is at most only about a mile and half away as the crow flies. He goes in to see his colleagues in the adjacent room to discuss the incident. In his room too, the report is being broadcast on the radio, but the colleagues seem to be taking hardly any notice of it. When Georg returns to his room, for a fraction of a second he sees himself face to face with one of the dreadfully disfigured victims of the gas disaster, sitting in the chair at his desk, staring at him, its face corroded. And so it begins. Is Georg seeing and feeling more accurately than the others, or is his imagination, now unleashed, revealing to him the fears of contemporary society? He ends up in a turmoil of perils and arduous rescue attempts which threaten to consume both him and his family. Who lies behind this? Is it Georg's mania or the madness of reality?