Rodion Raskolnikov, a student, kills the old protsentratschitsa and her sister with an axe. He needs money, for he has pawned his father's watch. Rodion is horrified by what he has done. Raskolnikov is distraught - he cannot find a place for himself. His sister Dunya is about to marry without love, his theory of the "extraordinary man" is falling apart before his eyes, and Rodion himself is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of fears and nightmares. Those investigating the murder of the interest-girl are getting closer and closer to Raskolnikov. Fate brings him together with Sonechka Marmeladova. The girl, left without parents, has to work as a prostitute to survive. It is she who persuades Rodion to confess to the murder....