Suzy Bannion, a young American ballet student, arrives in Freiburg, Germany during a torrential downpour to study at the co-ed Tanz Dance Akademie, a prestigious German dance school. She sees another student, Pat Hingle, flee the school in terror. Suzy is refused entry to the school and forced to stay in town overnight. Pat takes refuge at a friend's apartment and tells her that something sinister happened at the school. Pat is ambushed by a shadowy figure who stabs her repeatedly and drags her to the roof of the apartment building before hanging her with a noose by throwing her through the building's skylight. Pat's friend is also killed after being impaled by falling debris while trying to alert other tenants to the murder.