The story of a man who makes a great sacrifice for his country and for his son. Based on the play of the same title by Tor Hedberg.

The young adventurer Signature Hjelm meets one day a runaway carriage, and succeeds by a resourceful and daring intervention to avert an accident. The rig belongs to Gustav III's favorite, Baron Armfelt, and as a reward for his feat will Ture service of the king's guard. Conspirators trying maple certainly entice him over to the king's enemies, but Ture reports Gustaf receiving a grim and determined expression on his face: "Spies even here!" His confidence Signature increases.

When his ancestors seem to appear in the clouds during a storm of biblical proportions, young Ingmar decides to give up his career as the village teacher and to reclaim the land and farm of his fathers. The same stormy night, the charismatic preacher Helgum arrives in the village to spread the word about the promises of the Holy Land, which turns parents and children, men and wives, brothers and sisters, against one another. Ingmar is torn between his love for the headmaster’s daughter Gertrud who is under the preacher’s spell, and the prospects of marrying the judge’s daughter Barbro in order to keep the farm.