Gustl, the best swimmer in town, heartthrob and small-town hero, falls in love with Frieda, an independent and melancholy loner. When Gustl lays claim to Frieda's labour and inheritance, their love is shattered by the different ideas of relationship that are revealed. Offended in his masculinity and with a broken heart, Gustl conspires to turn his swimming team into a misogynistic mob, with Frieda as the main target of their hatred. The first National Socialist ideas soon spill over into their swimming and body cult, they vandalise the Jewish cemetery and act as the town's moral police. Frieda has no choice but to flee the confines of her origins. Marieluise Fleißer's novel, although 100 years old, captivates with its topical themes and questions: How important is (economic) independence in a relationship? How is love influenced by work, dependency relationships and the understanding of one's own self? The production also examines "masculinity" as a social construct and reveals frightening parallels with today's tendencies. In the character of Gustl, it becomes clear how suppressed grief and hurt sublimate into anger and hatred.