She has taken up residence with an elderly Piedmontese squatter couple who teach her to live off the land, tending to a herd of goats and hunting for birds and rabbits.

As a small child, Manon had suffered the loss of her father, who died from a blow to the head while using explosives in an attempt to find a water source.

To take her revenge on both the Soubeyrans and the villagers, who knew but did nothing, she stops the flow of water using the iron-oxide clay and rocks found nearby.

Manon publicly accuses César and Ugolin, and the villagers admit their own complicity in the persecution of Jean.

With the assistance of Bernard, Manon unblocks the spring in advance, and the water arrives at the village at the moment that the procession reaches the fountain.

Florette left the village, married a blacksmith from nearby Créspin, and the child was born alive but a hunchback.

In a cruel twist of fate, Jean, the man he drove to desperation and death without having met him, was the son he had always wanted.

Realizing now she is related to him, César sadly watches a pregnant Manon hurry home at night, wishing to reconcile with his only grandchild, but knowing it will never happen.

In an effort to resolve the situation, Claude Berri undressed and dived naked into the water to break the ice.