A Swedish cargo ship is in the winter of 1938 at the dock in Gdynia in Poland, waiting to depart with coal to Sweden. In a tavern in the port a Polish dockworkers tries to tell something to the Swedish sailors, but is rudely turned away by the tavern owner. Later in the evening the port worker is found dead. That same evening one of the Swedish sailors, meets a Jewish woman who has fled Nazi Germany.
Far up in the Lapland mountains, where no people live, little Sampo Lappelill lives.
The farmers Zackris Månsson and the Kerstorps-farmer lives on each side of the river. The two villages has always been enemies. The Kerstorps-farmer dies after a beating caused by Zachris. The son Olle takes over the farm and becomes a good farmer. He has a reputation of a fancying women, but the only women he has eyes for is Zachris daughter.
