 In the Finnish province of Ostrobothnia in the late 1950s, 18-year-old Armi is married to a taxi driver, Olavi, more than ten years her senior. Armi s parents disapprove of the marriage, so she moves to Olavi s house dominated by his strong mother. Olavi turns out to suffer from paranoid jealousy and is rumoured to have an illegitimate child, a serious taboo in those days. After years of marital problems, Armi moves to a big city with their two children but cannot really leave her difficult past behind.