Finnish farmer Semo is newly married and head over heels in love. He brings his young wife Selma to his remote farm, where his blind sister Elsa also lives and is longing for some company. The women become friends and Elsa soon confides in her sister-in-law that the land is under the curse of a witch who is terrifying the local people. And so the initial idyll is short-lived: when Semo is away for a long time, Selma is raped by rafting woodcutters. She doesn't tell her husband about the traumatic events. But he realises that the child she gave birth to is not his. The film thrives on its magnificent landscape shots, which reflect the magic of love and the horror of the curse. A landscape that forces people to rise above themselves.