[1] In the small town of Carcadie, Nova Scotia, 1903, a fisherman called Locky McCormick receives advice from Pacquet, the local shopkeeper: young Stella, the new doctor's maidservant, has received an inheritance and it would be a good idea to courtship her.
Dr. Robert Richardson mets the MacDonald family: Black, the father, Aggie, his sister, and Belinda, who is a deaf-mute young woman.
The family raises farm animals and grind local wheat into flour at their small mill.
Belinda's father and aunt realize she is a kind, loving young woman, and the family's relationship changes.
One night when there is a dance in the town and he knows she is alone at home, he leaves the party surreptitiously, goes to Belinda's house, tries to seduce her and when she resist his advances, he rapes her.
Stella, who is about to marry Locky, leaves the doctor's service in anger, revealing him that the town's people believe he abused the poor dummy.
Belinda gives birth at home to a healthy baby boy, whom she names Johnny.
While Black is at the mill, he approaches at baby Johnny and talks lovingly at him, saying that he'll grow up to be as tall as his papa.
The letter in which he called Johnny his son makes everyone believe that he is lying, and the prosecutor claims that Belinda killed Locky because he had found out that the doctor was the baby's father.