The musically gifted maid Elsie, who longs for a career as a musician, is forced into marriage with Jacob, a stable boy who dreams of owning a horse. Both have to learn that they can only escape their lack of opportunities if they team up.

Elsie is the young maid of a wealthy mercantilist. When she becomes pregnant with his child against her will, he barters her off to his servant. Not only is Jacob, the servant, bequeathed with a child without his knowing, he is also given a rundown farmyard in the remote Dark Lake as land tenure. In the setting of this dreary village, where everyone cheats everyone else and everyone seems to be hurt or damages one way or another, Elsie has nothing but her violin. She plays it to transport herself into far-off universes, until a traveler arrives.—Silvia Tschui