In a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.
In 1776 Vienna, imperial counselor Henryk Klein investigates allegations that the charismatic Jewish nobleman Jakub Frank is a fraud whose sect has ruined Galician Jew Jakub Goliński’s family and fortunes. As Klein’s inquiry uncovers Frank’s secret militia, escalating influence, and suspected treason against Empress Maria Theresa’s court, he must decide how far to expose the messianic impostor without igniting sectarian unrest.
Maciek is no longer a boy, but has not yet become a man. He wants to satisfy the ambitions of his father, and - as everyone in the family - be a butcher. But he is too sensitive to make an animal suffer. The boy directs all his warm feelings towards an old, neglected orchard - the only memory of his mother - and discovers his supernatural abilities.
