The poor but skilled woodcutter Simen is conned by the rich Pikajord. Simen's answer is to reenact his own death through disappearance, and come back as a ghost. But then his attractive wife looks like a widow.
On a farm in east-Norway lives Jonas Værn. He befriends a traveling finn Ahti who tells about his lost love and the man that took it from him. Ahti is later accused of murdering that fellow traveler....