Peggy (Joan Bennett) feels trapped, lacking the will to break free of her husband Tod (Charles Bickford), a famed painter whose career and eyesight she destroyed during a violent quarrel. A war-traumatized sailor (Robert Ryan), eager to claim Peggy for himself, is convinced Tod feigns blindness to control her. To prove it, he'll take Tod for a stroll along the seaside cliffs - and watch as the artist nears the edge. Filled with primal lust, bold imagery and murderous hearts, the Woman on the Beach, heavily re-cut by the studio prior to release, is Jean Renoir's (The Rules of the Game, the River) fever dream of a film noir.