Hedda Gabler, daughter of a deceased general, marries the bored George Tesman and foresees a life of middle-class boredom that will continue when they return from their honeymoon. Increasingly, she is attracted by the clutches of her admirer, Judge Brack, who seeks to establish a ménage à trois. Then, the brilliant but dissolute Eilert Lovborg, an old flame, arrives to rival her husband for an academic position.