An amateur biologist escapes the bustle of the city by studying beetles in remote sand dunes. After missing the last bus, he accepts a villager's offer to spend the night in a widow's shack at the bottom of a deep sand pit. In the morning he finds he is trapped. At first enraged, the man's hatred for the woman soon turns to searing, erotic lust.

Martin Scorsese presents this exquisite drama directed by Michael Powell. On a remote island off the coast of Scotland times are changing and as two young people plan to leave the island conflict and tragedy erupt.

"A disfigured man in a mask abducts the prima donna of the Paris Opera House to his lair in the sewers below"--Halliwell's Film and Video Guide.