Set in 19th century Vienna, Ignac Semmelweis, a short-tempered but passionate doctor, delivers babies and carries out autopsies on a daily basis while looking for the cause of puerperal fever, the mysterious epidemic that decimates patients in the hospital.
Eighteen year old Ida returns home after being raised by nuns, but her father isn't too pleased. Determined to see her married, he publishes an ad and offers suitors a generous dowry.
