Farmer Knut Husaby's daughter Aslaugh is the most beautiful girl in the village. Many boys are after her, but Knut and his two sons drive them away if they come too close to the farm. Aslaug is secretly in love with Tore Naesset, but he is only a smallholder's son, and when he asks for Aslaug's hand, her father just laughs at him; he wants her to marry Ola Thormundson, a gawky boy who is the son of the wealthiest farmer in the village. Aslaug brings her family's cattle to the Husaby summer farm up on the mountain. Only one road leads to the summer farm, and it passes right by the main farm. When Tore returns from a visit to Aslaug in the mountains, Knut and his sons beat him black-and-blue. As it's impossible for him to use the road anymore, Tore must figure out another way to get to Aslaug. The next Saturday he crosses the fjord in a rowboat. He stops at a 50-meter high wall of rock, and starts climbing it, hoping to reach Aslaug at the top.