The film is based on the first of Gracie Gibbon's trilogy, The Book of Scotland. The hero fights and dies in World War I, while the heroine, Chris, is educated but bound to the land, and her rapid transition from girl to wife to widow is both exhilarating and heartbreaking. Its language is musical and lyrical, as beautiful as the land it describes. Following them through life, we witness peasant life and ancient Scotland itself.