Katrine Wiedemann directs this bleak melodrama about a lonely farm woman coming of age at the turn of the 20th century. On his death bed, Bente's father asks her to marry Gorm, a thuggish drunk, in order to save their once-prosperous family from crippling debt. The marriage proves to be a loveless nightmare from the start. Later, Bente's sister embarks on equally unpleasant marriage to a mama's boy.