"Vaikka kokee, eipä hylkää herra"

In a remote corner of Häme, a young child grows up amid the harsh realities of 1850s rural Finland. After his family is forced to sell their home and become tenant farmers, the household lives on meager rations of bark and occasional grain, while debts loom like a constant shadow. The boy’s parents, steeped in a fervent religious tradition, cling to faith as a source of comfort in the face of relentless poverty.

Inspired by the sermons of local revivalists, the siblings devise a simple plan: to live without sin and earn a place in heaven. They vow to perform every household chore with perfect devotion, believing that pure conduct will open the gates of the celestial realm that their mother describes so vividly. Their enthusiasm turns everyday tasks into a solemn pilgrimage toward an imagined paradise.

But a small distraction—a mouse scurrying under a bench—breaks the child’s concentration, and the fragile promise of flawless virtue shatters. The disappointment that follows marks the first crack in their idealism, setting the stage for a continued struggle between hope and the harshness of daily life.