Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content, gender discrimination, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual violence.

The woman is happily married with children but often imagines having an affair with a different man on one of her weekend trips away from home. In December, she makes plans to spend the weekend in the city doing some Christmas shopping. She prepares the house for her husband and kids before she leaves. She takes the train and rents a hotel room in the city.

In the evening, the woman has a drink at the hotel bar before going to bed. The next day, she walks around shopping and studying the city scenes. In the afternoon, she visits a local pub, where a man greets her. They end up drinking together, and the man quickly opens up about his life. Then they play pool. Afterward, they walk through town together. They pass through the markets and squares. The man buys some fish and invites her back to his home. Before leaving town, they also buy wine and a lottery ticket.

The walk back to the man’s house is long, but the woman is enjoying herself. At the house, she studies his plain space. She notices a giant rubber plant in one room, but otherwise, the house is void of decorations, a phone, or photographs. In the bathroom, she admires the man’s giant tub. He invites her to take a bath. While she bathes, he shaves. Then she stands up, and he scrubs her body for her. The dynamic feels easy and familiar to the woman, and the man seems harmless. Afterward, they go to his room, undress, and have sex. While smoking cigarettes after, the woman notices a gun cartridge on the nightstand. The man dismisses it and suggests they make dinner.

The woman contentedly watches an Antarctica documentary and drinks wine while the man cooks. Over dinner, they get into a conversation about hell. They share their different imaginings of hell, which the woman says (according to her former school nun) is relative to each person. For the woman, hell would be a frozen place, empty of people, where the devil is always watching her. The man’s version is different, but he’s sad imagining a hell without his friends.

The woman and man return to the man’s room and have sex several more times. They lie in bed, smoking and chatting. The man’s cat jumps up, startling the woman. Then she hears loud Gregorian chants playing from below. The man says his downstairs neighbor is an old deaf woman. They start to drift off when the man says he’ll miss the woman when she leaves.

Early Sunday morning, the woman wakes up, gets dressed, studies the man’s belongings, and walks back to the hotel. She packs her things and checks out, leaving her bag in the lobby and briefly calling home. Suddenly, the man appears. He’s sorry she didn’t say goodbye and suggests they go out for lunch and some drinks. The woman agrees. They have a lavish meal and get drunk again. When they’re finished, the man picks something out of the woman’s teeth for her.

The woman and man walk around town talking about Christmas. The man hasn’t gone shopping because he has no one to buy presents for. He reveals he was formerly married and that the rubber plant at his house was his wife’s. He’s wanted it to die, but it just keeps growing. They continue walking, eventually veering out of town and into the woods. The man holds onto the woman’s hand too tightly and then pushes her against a tree and kisses her intensely. He insists they return to his house. The woman doesn’t feel like having sex again but can’t think of an excuse; she still has time before her train home.

Back at the house, the man undresses the woman. She’s grateful she doesn’t have to do anything and can simply let him lead. Then he pushes her naked body onto the bed and holds her hands above her head. She starts to panic when he pulls out handcuffs and binds her wrists. They have sex this way. Afterward, the man disappears into the kitchen and returns with some food and coffee. The woman protests, saying it’s late, and she has to go. He insists she eats and feeds her the food and coffee while she’s handcuffed. After she’s done, he doesn’t unlock her, and she soon falls asleep.

The woman wakes up still chained to the bed; now, she is gagged, too. The man is leaving for work. He brings her a bucket to urinate into and explains that he’s doing this because he loves her. After he goes, the woman panics. She tries uncuffing herself and removing the headboard. A draft comes in through the open window. The cat jumps onto the bed and watches her. She tries to scream but can’t. She bangs her foot on the floor but remembers the downstairs neighbor can’t hear. Hours pass. Her fear ebbs and flows. It starts to snow. She realizes she may never see her husband or kids again and starts thinking of Antarctica and hell.