Heta, the strong-willed daughter of the Niskavuori family, who is pregnant, marries Akusti, a farmhand, and remains bitter toward Santeria, who broke her heart. Heta and Akusti begin their life together on the modest Muumäki farm, where they are assisted by their loyal maid Siipirikko.
Iris Klewe is brought from her forest cottage by her bank-manager uncle Kaarlo Heinonen to attend school in Helsinki, where his wife and elder children resent the poor foster girl while only the youngest child and the cook show her kindness. Kaarlo’s financial troubles start to threaten Iris’s inheritance.
