In the Finnish province of Ostrobothnia in the late 1950s, 18-year-old Armi is married to a taxi driver, Olavi, more than ten years her senior. Armi's parents disapprove of the marriage, so she moves to Olavi's house dominated by his strong mother. Olavi turns out to suffer from paranoid jealousy and is rumoured to have an illegitimate child, a serious taboo in those days. After years of marital problems, Armi moves to a big city with their two children but cannot really leave her difficult past behind.