A young man is elected by a small village to be its parson. As part of his duties, he is required to marry the widow of the parson before him. This poses two problems--first, the widow is old enough to be his grandmother, and second, he is already engaged to another woman.

Synnöve lives with her parents at the farm Solbakken on a sunny hill. Thorbjörn, who lives at Granliden in the shadow of a big mountain, often looks wistfully up to Solbakken. As teenagers they meet and fall in love. Another boy, Knud Nordhaug, is also yearning for Synnöve.

The Silfverdahl sisters goes sailing. One of them married, the other one, Brita, not. After a short journey Brita's sweetheart Einar secretly climbs aboard. Agathon, her prospective husband, get seasick and choose to leave the party.