A lonely thirty year-old woman lives in a small apartment on the edge of town. She meets a man, life looks brighter, but she suspects he’s hiding something from her.
A miller's son, Johannes, falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy landowner, Victoria. The novel follows them through adolescence, as Johannes struggles with the social hierarchy and becomes a successful author, and Victoria is forced into marrying Otto, a lieutenant, to save the troubled family economy.
