During World War I in Norway, the lives of a shipping agent and his family are put under pressure when he becomes bankrupt and his wife's mentally disturbed sister comes to stay.

The 50 year old house wife Ingrid is unsuccessful in her first job after the kids have grown up. her husband send her to a stay at a summer hotel, where she return to spirit and goes back home only to find him in bed with a lover.

A young girl growing up in Bergen, Norway just after the 2nd world war, is trying to deal with the father's adultery and mother's deep depression, as she befriends a boy. This endangers her.