Bremen, 1893. Young Marga Lürmann has many suitors but has never fallen in love. This changes when she meets Percy, a distant cousin from England, during a glorious summer spent in Lesmona, her uncle's country estate. Although Percy is not yet able to support a wife, he promises to return in five years to marry her. However, Marga, under pressure from her family to find a husband, grows more lonely and confused as time goes by, and eventually accepts a marriage proposal from someone else.