A few leagues from Seldwyla, in the Zurich countryside, two children, Sali Mantz and Vreneli Marti, form an inseparable pair of playmates. Unfortunately, their farming parents, who have always been friends, are at odds with each other over the purchase of an adjoining field.Sali and Vreneli don't see each other again until much later and fall in love, but their parents still hate each other fiercely. Despite everything, the young couple will try to live their forbidden love.

September 1939 in Estavayer: An anti-aircraft battery of the Swiss militia takes up position near a hotel on the border. The daughter of the house is adored by all the soldiers. During a nighttime air battle in which a "foreign" aircraft is shot down, one of the soldiers is killed. Only the girl can comfort the overwhelmed soldiers; it is only an emergency during a storm that brings them together.