Her strict father prohibits her from almost everything: playing the piano, wearing modern clothing, or using cosmetics, unlike her peers.
Her mother falls ill for an extended period and needs treatment in a hospital, during which time Maria seizes the opportunity to lead a more carefree life.
Even when her mother returns home later, she decides to continue spending her leisure time with her friends, causing renewed conflicts with her moralizing father, who fears for his daughter's virtues and sees her on the path to sin.
Despite all her despair, she decides to gather new courage for life and bids farewell to her beloved friend on the banks of the river where Mrs. Tunheim drowned, saying to her, "Everything between us will remain as it was."
At the end of the film, Maria walks along the road on foot while the song "You're nobody till somebody loves you" plays in the background, a melody echoing themes of freedom and self-discovery.