Carinthia, Slovenia, in the 18th century. Ozbej, having finished school, returns to Krnice Manor, where Father tells him that now he is to stay at home because he has decided to make him the future master of the whole estate. Meta, a new maid, an attractive girl, comes to Krnice and Ozbej falls in love with her. Meta becomes pregnant but Ozbej’s mother curses her and his father has her tortured and chases her away from the manor. Ozbej cannot forget Meta; he meets her in the forest and tells her that, just because of her, he is willing to give up the Krnice estate. Soon Meta becomes pregnant again. In the meantime, Father finds a bride for his son, who, on the wedding day, runs away. Ozbej goes to see his children in Meta’s cottage. Soon afterwards he visits his father and tells him that he has given up Krnice. Still, Father would not allow him to get married to Meta. Then the court orders Meta to be whipped again but she would still not give up Ozbej and Krnice. Meta and Ozbej go on to have four children, so now the priest himself asks the old lord of the manor Krnicnik to allow the couple to be married. Instead, Krnicnik has his son join up. When a group of soldiers come to take him away, Meta and her children also being present then, Father suffers a stroke. He sits in silence by the window, waiting for his son to come back from the army. In the meantime, Ozbej’s brother has Meta evicted from the cottage after her mother’s death…