[1] Helle is a mentally retarded, deaf and mute village girl who lives high in the Savoy mountains of France.

Fabrice, the youngest one, comes home for summer vacation and falls in love with Helle.

Julien tells Fabrice that Helle is the village's traveling "filles de joie."

Julien walks back home feeling depressed and commits suicide by jumping from the top of Cascade Saint-Benoît.

However, hearing the church bell faintly, she finds herself happy and plays around like a cow by mistaking it for a cowbell.