Kristin is the daughter of a prominent landowner in medieval Norway. She grows up in total harmony with the ideals of the time: strong family ties, social pride and devout Christianity. She accepts the fact that her father has arranged for her to marry the son of another landowner. Kristin's beauty and purity create violent emotions around her. There are envy and attempted rape, murder and revenge. She seeks refuge from the world in a convent, awaiting the time for her marriage. Here the passion of her life strikes, the knight Erlend Nikulaussonn. He, an accomplished seducer, also falls hopelessly in love. They have to cross not only convent walls to meet, but social boundaries as well. Their love cannot be kept secret, and suddenly the innocent Kristin is the centre of a scandal. Her fiance withdraws from their engagement, her father rages, and Erlend's former mistress tries to poison her. The affair grows into a political issue, and finally some of the country's most dignified leaders persuade Lavrans to give in. The lovers win each other, but it is in front of a charred altar in a burnt down church, and their happiness has a double edge.