20世纪初，克里斯·格思里（Chris Guthrie）和家人住在苏格兰东北部一个荒凉的农场里。母亲去世后，她与父亲和哥哥一起管理农场，但两人争吵不休，留下克里斯和父亲独自管理农场。父亲去世后，她考虑放弃农场，但决定独自继续。她嫁给了一位年轻的农民Ewan Tavendale。他们有了一个孩子，第一次很开心，然后第一次世界大战爆发，伊万在法国参军并去世，克里斯再次被留下来继续经营农场。

Chris Guthrie lives with her family on a bleak farm in North East Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century. On her mother's death, she assumes the managing of the farm with her father and her older brother, but the men fall out, leaving Chris and her father to manage it alone. When her father dies, she considers abandoning the farm, but decides to carry on alone. She marries a young farmer, Ewan Tavendale. They have a baby and are happy for the first time, then the First World War breaks out, Ewan enlists and dies in France, and Chris is left once again to carry on with the farm.