Marjaana Maijala

Jaakko and Sirpa have never met face to face but they talk on the phone every day. When he hears about her declining health, he decides to go meet her in another city; a challenge if you can't see and are paralyzed from the chest down.

In rural Sweden of the early 1950s, little Elina goes to school again after recovering from tuberculosis, the same illness that has killed her father a few years earlier. Elina's family belongs to Finnish-speaking Finns frowned upon by a staunch schoolmistress who starts hounding Elina for questioning her authority. Elina's mother, sister, and a liberal young male teacher all try to mediate the ensuing battle of wills between Elina and Miss Holm. Elina finds consolation in wandering out on the dangerous marshlands to have imaginary conversations with her dead father.