Frans Kampman

Teacher's daughter Anna cannot enter the music college because of her family's opposition. At the request of her relatives she goes to Helsinki to study administrative sciences, but nasty fellow students make the girl leave the university and apply to become a nurse.

Once a naïve, love-struck girl now forsaken by her lover, Maija leaves her island home to work as a housemaid in the city, only to be seduced by her employer's son Erkki, then forced to leave the household in order to avoid the scandal of a pregnancy. With few prospects for a decent job, Maija is reduced to working as a bar hostess to make ends meet, ever fending off the advances of disreputable clients, even as she continues to hold out hope for an enduring love that will redeem her from her fate.