Joseph Bloch is a second-division goalkeeper who has cracked up. After he is sent off the pitch, he kills a cinema box-office clerk. He leaves town and visits an old friend close to the border. He goes for long walks and talks to local people: villagers, gamekeepers, customs officials, hairdressers. But after a couple of days he is increasingly dogged by fear about the consequences of his deed: the 'fear of the penalty'. He returns to the city, just waiting for that very special penalty to be taken. No criminal, but a man fast losing his mind.