Based on the evidence of this and similar Scandinavian films, one would have imagined that the majority of their filmmakers would enter the ancient debate on the inherent goodness or lack of it in mankind on the side of those who find humanity inherently lacking. In the story, Robert is an elderly man who has spent the majority of his adult life in America and has moved to a village in his native Norway for the end of his life. There, he meets a much younger woman who provides him with delightful company and companionship. She is married to a local farmer but is a somewhat neglected woman. Despite the essential innocence of their relationship, all their neighbors and acquaintances (beginning with her husband's field hands) think they are having a sexual affair and, disapproving, begin harassing them. This tragic drama is based on a very popular 1980s novel by Karin Elstad). ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi