Jella lives in a village in the mountains of Transylvania. She fights a solitary battle against the men courting her aggressively and the malevolence of the village community, her ill-reputed mother being expelled from the village for her immoral lifestyle. One day, she is attacked by a group of lads from the village. Thrown into a fright, she tries to escape across the forest, ending up near the house of Balogh Péter, a track-watchman.