Petra von Kant, a successful fashion designer who has recently separated from her husband, falls in love with Karin, a young woman who becomes both her lover and her model. Abandoning everyone around her, Petra invests everything in a relationship which is unequal, since Karin does not have such strong feelings for her. Once she has embarked on a successful career, Karin soon abandons Petra and returns to her husband. This comes as a great shock to Petra. Yet the experience will give her the opportunity to rethink her views on love and the people who surround her.

This play by the great German writer and director Rainer Werner Fassbinder examines female relationships through the story of an ambitious, selfish woman whose world collapses around her.