In the village Karrild the Countess Sonia Hardenborg and a young unmarried woman Marta give birth to a daughter on the same day Marta dies after birth so Martas daughter Betina come under the care of the countess 17 years later Betina and Countess Sonias daughter Maria meet as Betina is living in a home for orphaned girls which is adjacent to the Hardenborg estate The two girls become friends and Maria invites Betina to visit her at Hardenborg to greet her parents Sonia and Otto Hardenborg and her brother Count Flemming Meanwhile Betinas father Frank Jensen starts working in the estates woods and when the two girls come to visit him he is shocked by the resemblance between the young countess and Betinas mother Marta
