Estonia, 1872. The uncompromising new owner of Robber's Rise must battle with hard work, his spiteful neighbor and with his own family and beliefs to transform the poor land into a flourishing farm of his dreams.

Johannes, a young Ingrian Finn, grows up in Soviet Estonia with his liberal student mother and pro-Soviet grandmother. The boy's life is revolutionized when he experiences first love and his mother decides to leave for Finland.

Jakop has been living by Peipsi for several generations. He is not the best fisherman and doesn't have much money. One day, Jakop's nephew arrives at the yard. Jakop has a chance get a thousand rubles if he agrees to make one small trip over the lake and back. Namely, the nephew has a fugitive in the car who thinks that he is on the north coast. But Jakop refuses the offer. However, he allows his nephew and the refugee to stay with him for the night. In the morning, however, the nephew leaves and leaves the speechless fugitive to Jakop's conscience. Jakop has to make a decision - whether he takes refugees across lake Peipus? In the whirlwind of events, memories come to life in Jakop's dreams about his brother and his suicide. Jakop begins to see similarities between the lost brother and the fugitive.

Lola ends up sitting on a bench with local women on Midsummer Eve. At first, all women's troubles are alien to her, but as the evening progresses, she begins to question her current perspectives, and as a result of the long benching, she grows up with the country women in her own way.