Ingeborg and Knute are newly married and happily in love, but Ingeborg's dreams begin to fall apart as she realizes that Knute is not the husband she hoped for. He is always away fishing, and when he comes back he is drunk. Still, she continues to love him. She works to make a special Christmas eve for him, only to discover that he did not sail back with the other fishermen but instead stopped along the way right when a storm hit. She sets off to save him, and when he returns home later, he discovers that she died in the storm. He mourns her and his actions and discovers that this is God's way of teaching him about love and charity.