In 1850, farm-boy Larus finds a neglected orphan girl wandering in his tiny village's wasteland: 9-year-old Tinke, whose mother died in their rickety cabin on the heath. Larus tries to take her in, braving his brutish foster parents, to share his miserable stable dwelling, also with mentally-challenged giant Hartad. While the corpse and cabin are sorted, the mayor searches for her ancestry. It turns out that her mother was the missing maverick daughter of a grumpy, rich grandfather, whose wife rapidly takes to the rebel girl, while her aunts and uncles ponder the foundling.