If in Das Rheingold the curtain fell with the hegemony of the gods in Valhalla, the second part of Der Ring des Nibelungen opens with a mortal who, alone on Earth, faces a raging storm. Siegmund is called the hunted warrior, and when he briefly finds peace in a concealed hut, he meets the beautiful but equally hapless Sieglinde. An ardent and natural passion blossoms, but at the same time a hidden past surfaces that will seal their fate. Their forbidden love incurs the wrath of the goddess of marriage, Fricka, who demands that her husband Wotan use violence to enforce his own, rigid codes. Inwardly torn, he sends his favourite daughter, Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie …