Katja Stern, a successful newspaper editor, is shocked to find that the tensions in her marriage with Erik, a no less successful lawyer, have led to health problems for her 12-year-old son. On the advice of her doctor she drives the boy alone into the mountains. Christopher is getting better, but the family life of Stern is not going well. When Katja meets the farmer Johannes in the mountains and falls in love, she has to make a decision.