Ellida, the lighthouse keeper's daughter in the small town of Skjoldviken, meets an American sailor with whom she shares her first romantic experience. When this stranger is accused of murder, he must flee, but makes a pact with Ellida to come back and whisk her away. He is gone for years, and during that time, she finds herself married to Wangel, the local doctor. The two girls from his first marriage never take kindly to Ellida, and in a haze of post-partum depression, she begins to long, once again, for her youth.