Helga Suotorppa has given birth to an illegitimate child while working as a maid. Inkeri, the kind-hearted mistress of the Lehtola house, offers the woman, who has a bad reputation in the village community, a place to work, which the desperate Helga gratefully accepts. She supports Mauria, who is in trouble after being abandoned by his rich and proud fiancée Hildur.
