Synopsis
In post-World War II America, Maja Reid is a Romanian refugee who has built a new life with her American husband, Lewis, and their young son, Patrick, but she is still haunted by her dark memories of the war, still having nightmares. While walking on the street, she recognizes a man who she believes is a former German soldier she encountered 15 years before. She tails him to the house where she sees that he has a wife and two children. The next day, on the pretense that her car broke down, Maja knocks the man out and puts him in the trunk.
Returning to the house, Maja tells Lewis her past memories, saying that she and some other women escaped to Romania where the SS soldiers found them and murdered several of them. She then admits that she has put the man, who she thinks is a Nazi war criminal, in the trunk of their car, further disturbing Lewis. The two of them then bring the man to the basement and tie him up in a chair. There, Maja interrogates the man who insists that his name is Thomas Steinmann and that he is Swiss but Maja disputes him, telling him that his name is “Karl” and recounting the background of his war crimes. Thomas attempts to escape and yells for help at the front door but Lewis incapacitates him. When one of the neighbors named Jim is awakened by Thomas' yell, Maja convinces him that it came from the street. The next day the neighbor accompanied by police and Thomas' wife, Rachel, are going house to house, searching for Rachel's husband and the source of the screaming the night before. At the clinic where Lewis is working, he looks up a document about Thomas, stating that he is indeed a native from Switzerland.
At the house, Thomas continues to deny Maja's allegations of Thomas' crimes until she forces him to say "Zigeunerfotze" (German word for "Gypsy Cunt"). Throughout the film, a series of flashbacks reveal the German soldiers killing and raping the women. She reveals that her sister Miriah was among the victims. When Thomas is confronted by Lewis, he tells him that he was in Zurich for the entire duration of the war and also tells him the name of his acquaintances to prove his whereabouts during the war. Thomas added that he became a naturalized citizen of the United States after he married Rachel, and promises that he will not go to the police because he forged travel visa document in order to stay in the U.S.
Maja pays a visit to Rachel at her home, where she discovers the wedding ring she wears has a Star of David engraved on the inside. Believing that Thomas stole the ring from a Jewish victim, Maja goes back to her home to force Thomas to tell her his last name but then Thomas attempts to shoot her with a gun he'd hidden earlier but misses. He continues to insist his name is Thomas but then she sees his wedding band. She cuts off his finger and takes his wedding band with the same Star of David inside that is similar to Rachel's wedding band. Meanwhile Lewis plans to release Thomas, believing that he won’t go to t