Journeyman craftsman Paul Paulsen is in his third year of traveling and lives far from his North German homeland in a small village in Central Germany. During a winter storm, he sees a young woman near his door, demanding entry to the prison, but being turned away by the warden. Paul follows the woman and takes her to his landlady's apartment. He recognizes her as Lisei, the daughter of a puppeteer, whom he had met twelve years earlier. He looks back.