In the beginning of the film, the narrator tells the audience a story about two adult sisters who live in a remote Danish village at the seaside. Both sisters were raised by a strict father who was a pastor of a small Protestant church. The two sisters were once in love, one, Martine, with an army officer, and the other, Philippa, with an opera singer and both had a chance to leave the village and start a new life with their beloved ones. However, both ended up alone, leaving lonely lives in the village of Jutland.
Thirty-five years later, in the middle of the night, a woman ...