An apparent suicide of a successful architect prompts an investigation into his death. A young man investigating can't believe that his well-respected boss would take his own life until he discovers that the man had a loveless marriage, another woman on the side, and a general feeling of malaise – a condition caused by the fact that he very nearly sold himself out to the lure of big money.
A newly-married woman becomes frustrated as her husband, a reindeer herder for an Arctic village, spends much of his time away. Desperate for affection, she visits a shaman who offers a potion that makes her irresistibly desirable, with unexpected and deadly results.
In the 1880s, an unruly group of Cossacks stays in Sankola's house in Hämälä. Soon the group's leader Kuisma sets his sights on the house's adopted daughter Helina . Isma, the owner of the farm, has also fallen in love with Helina.
