Attempts to capture the relationship between Venice and Wagner's musical and psychological world. Wagner's letters, compositions, and poems are used to trace his various visits to Venice in the latter half of the 19th century, and his intense creativity during the period in which he was working on the second act of "Tristan and Isolde." The film's final sequence is built around the "Funeral March for the Death of Siegfried" from "Twilight of the Gods."