While gathering brushwood, the forester's wife finds a baby in a snowdrift - a little girl thrown out of the window of a "death train" bound for Auschwitz. The woman decides to save the child, but her stern husband is categorically against it. He allows her to keep the child for a short time, but the more time passes, the more attached to him. Meanwhile, the villagers learn about the inexplicable appearance of the daughter in the family of the forester and, convinced that the child will bring them trouble, set an ultimatum to get rid of him.