John Gabriel Borkman, a former bank director, was imprisoned for fraud but believes he was wrongly convicted. He had invested clients' money in a major industrial venture but was reported by his friend Hinkel, who was in love with Borkman's former fiancée, Ella Rentheim. Borkman now lives on the first floor of the house, with his estranged wife, Gunhild, living on the ground floor. He occasionally receives visits from his friend Wilhelm Foldal, who supports Borkman's delusion that the bank will ...