Loosely based on the story by George Buchner. Jacob Lenz, gifted, highly intelligent but seriously unbalanced, is invited to stay at the house of Oberlin, a philanthropic parson. The play examines the effects on the household of Lenz's erratic, sometimes dangerous, behaviour, which gradually makes him the centre of all attention and activity, and ultimately, madness is powerfully depicted as the height of selfishness. Oberlin's compassionate, Christian attempt to give Lenz love and shelter fails, and he is returned to Strasburg.