The Black Spider

Sumiswald in the Emmental in the 13th century. The beautiful, headstrong Christine is a midwife in the farming village of Sumiswald, where the war-traumatized knight Hans von Stoffeln rules with violence and arbitrariness. After two years of exhausting labor, Stoffeln gives the farmers an impossible order: They have to plant a shady aisle with a hundred mature beech trees within the shortest possible time. Christine's father dies trying to fulfill this order. The farmers soon realize that they have no chance of finishing in time. Christine resorts to the most extreme means to save her village. She makes a pact with the devil, who demands an unbaptized newborn child in return for his help. The pact is sealed with a kiss on Christine's cheek. The peasants are grateful for Christine's great courage and she enjoys much recognition as a savior in great need. When the devil has completed his task, Stoffeln refrains from further tyranny. The strange stranger has long been forgotten, only Christine's sister Maria suspects the worst when she learns of the pact with him. With the help of the courageous priest, she manages to cheat the devil out of the first newborn child, but Christine is punished: she suffers agony when a spider grows on her cheek. Unfortunately, she is unable to stop the evil forces she has enlisted to help her. The farmers cowardly turn Christine into a scapegoat. Can the courageous midwife defeat the devil? And will Christine manage to get her sister Maria on her side in the fight against evil?