This brooding Danish drama harkens to the work of the great Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer in its sensitive exploration of inner torment. The Tar Merchant refers to its central character, a wounded, vengeful man who has changed from being a gentle and thoughtful man in response to his wife's impulsiveness and lack of concern which led directly to the death of their child. This man has adopted the guise of a tar merchant, which enables him to travel freely to advance his irrational scheme of retribution. Beginning with the death of her child, the heedless wife begins to know guilt and care, as she sinks into a nightmarish state. A real merchant spots the tar merchant as a phony and tries to put the squeeze on him, with disastrous results.