Admiral Wheeler finds his beautiful young wife of nineteen years, Adelaide, is very demanding in the bedroom and flirts with other men when the mood takes her. She is also conducting a secret affair with the young lad of a tenant farmer on her husband’s estate.

On a recommendation, the distraught husband hires a Dr Maxwell who diagnoses hysteria with symptoms of nymphomania.

The cure for female hysteria in Victorian times is prolonged genital stimulation which becomes a central part of the strict regime imposed by the quack doctor and his sadistic lesbian nurse, Margaret. They move into Melton Hall and imprison Adelaide, subjecting her to cruel punishment and humiliation while reassuring her husband the treatment will eventually make his young wife submissive. In fact, her condition worsens and she becomes thoroughly debauched.

When the Admiral is away, Maxwell’s corrupting influence gradually spreads throughout the house to include Adelaide’s sibling Sophie, who is visiting, and many of the servants.

The Admiral returns to Melton Hall and discovers Adelaide’s secret affair. She is cast out and left to Maxwell to dispose of. The doctor has further plans to degrade Adelaide and line his own pockets…