Katharina Blum is an innocent woman who works as a housekeeper for a famous corporate lawyer, Hubert Blorna, and his wife Trude. She is nicknamed "the Nun" due to her prudish lifestyle which makes her acquaintances very surprised by her suspected involvement with a criminal. Her life is ruined by an invasive tabloid reporter, Werner Tötges, who works for a tabloid simply known as "The Paper." Katharina lands in the papers when the police begin to investigate her in connection with Ludwig Götten, a man she has just met and quickly fallen in love with, and who is accused of being an anarchist, a bank robber, and an alleged terrorist. Police suspect Katharina of aiding and abetting Götten.