Plot Synopsis

Based on the novel by Willa Cather. In 1886, a 14-year-old orphan arrives in rural Nebraska to live with his grandparents. He falls in love with a 15-year-old girl from an impoverished immigrant farm family. Beaten down by farm life, the girl's father kills himself, and she takes work in town. The boy goes away to school and the girl gets pregnant by an unscrupulous fiance who jilts her. Years later, the young man, now a big city lawyer, visits and learns that she's now a happily married wife and mother. Thought their love was never consummated he forever cherishes their shared experiences and life-long friendship.