In his second film, Jean Beaudin relates, as he had in his first (J.A. Martin, Photographer), the story of an unconventional woman at the turn of the century. Cordelia tells the true story of a woman hanged for a crime for which her guilt was never proven. Cordelia Viau is a non-conformist, given to holding musical soirees for “gay blades” and generally thwarting public opinion in her puritanical town. When her husband is found with his throat slit, she and her handyman, Samuel Parslow, are accused of the murder.