1327年，中世纪的意大利正处于天主教统治的阴影当中。英国天主教方济各会修道士威廉（肖恩·康纳利 饰）和他年轻的徒弟阿德索（克里斯汀·史莱特 饰）来到意大利北部山区本尼迪克特教会修道院，参加关于宗教与清贫、王权与意志的大辩论。
在修道院的七天中，插图装帧师阿德尔莫、希腊文翻译费南修斯等修道士神秘死亡，威廉则在调查中遭到了许多阻挠和警告，而阿德索则与一位来修道院以色相换取食物的年轻姑娘之间产生了感情。随着调查的不断深入，他们发现这些谋杀案都与一本藏书楼里的怪书有关。
原来是老院长约杰因为害怕这本宣传真理的“怪书”会影响人们对天主教教义的信仰而在怪书上涂了剧毒药物。他看到阴谋败露，把怪书撕毁，并放火焚烧藏书室……
本片根据意大利作家安倍托·艾科的同名小说改编，获1988年英国学院奖最佳男演员和最佳化装奖。

A German TV documentary that chronicles the daily rehearsals, the filming and all the behind the scenes of Jean-Jacques Annaud's classic "The Name of the Rose". From actors perspectives to the ideas used by the director to produce an impeccable international epic adaptation of Umberto Eco's best selling novel, the film presents the obstacles behind the creation of a production of such large scale and also the making of the many difficult scenes, most of the ones presented here are the characters' murders inside the mysterious abbey. Written by Rodrigo Amaro

In Vienna, in 1930, a young woman falls in love with a gambler and leaves her fiancé, a common butcher. They become a couple and have a baby, but he gets bored and leaves them. Without means to support herself, her downfall begins.