AllMovie

This stark human drama about a woman's adaptation and survival in the face of unrelenting misfortune is set at the turn of the 20th century in a small Baltic fishing village of thatched huts, barren sand dunes, and scrub. The young woman is first seen as a widow who goes to live in the cottage of a neighborly fishermen and his two older sons. She eventually marries the eldest son and bears him a healthy baby boy. One day, as her new husband is on his way to pay off a debt with the family's hard-earned savings, he is attacked by a thief and the two kill each other in the ensuing fight. Their bodies are quickly covered by the blowing, shifting sand and no one knows for many years what really happened. Because the debt was not paid, the father is sent to prison, and in time the young woman marries the second brother and has two more sons -- though the dangerous life of a fisherman brings tragedy once again, dramatically affecting her future and that of her father-in-law.