- Governess Kristine Bergman arrives in her native Lapland with her husband Gustav Bergman. On a night-time sleigh ride, she meets and falls in love with the head forester Suontaa, who responds to her feelings.
- The drama Green Gold (1939), directed by Valentin Vaala, is based on a play by Juhani Tervapää, aka Hella Wuolijoki. Kristine Bergman, a governess, arrives in her native Lapland with her husband Gustav Bergman. On a night-time sleigh ride, she meets and falls in love with the head forester Suontaa, who responds to her feelings. Both are married and divorce is not a foregone conclusion for either of them.
- Gustav Bergman and his wife Kristine travel to Lapland to work in the wood processing factories he runs. Kristine is from the north and is eager to get to the "woods". As his guide, he meets Suontaa, the company's chief forester, whose wife she meets at the factory manager's house. Suontaa has a reputation as a stubborn and bossy man, and at first, he regards his role as a tedious duty, but he soon becomes convinced of the sincerity of Kristine's 'Lapland charm'.
Suontaa and Kristine ride together on a sleigh to a remote log cabin, under a bright starry sky and admiring the snow-covered forest. Once there, Kristine spends the night under the same roof as the forest workers and gets to know their conditions. She also sees Suontaa at work, tireless and bossy. Suontaa's activities are aimed at conserving nature at the expense of the company's profit motive, and forestry manager Virkkula is his soulmate as a "man of conviction". "We have a starry sky above our heads and a moral law inside us," Suontaa tells Kristine when they meet outside the cabin at night.
A snowstorm leads the drivers astray, and the travelers are forced to spend the night in the open fire. "Something infinitely good has happened to me," Suontaa confesses to Kristine: He plans to leave his post for the benefit of the Lapland Forestry District, and taking Kristine in his arms, he says the Heikkinen Reform House, his next overnight stop, is "for us, for us who are starting over". To round off the evening, Virkkula tells the story of the birth of Pakokylä, which will also be seen as a visual narrative performed by Kristine and Suontaan:
Hundreds of years ago, a dark man appeared in a house in Alajärvi's Peltokylä, looked at the house's daughter, asked for a place to stay, and left in the middle of the night. She followed him skiing but fled when he spotted her. She throws her coat, scarf, and glove into the snow to get away faster, but he catches up with her and takes her across the watershed to the shores of Lake Piilojärvi, where they live their lives in solitude: they are the beginning of the settlement and family of Pakokylä.
In the morning, Suontaa and Kristine say a bitter goodbye, for Kristine, has learned that the man has two school-age children and she does not want to break up the family or dare to throw herself into the life he offers. "Goodbye, playmate," Suontaa says, and says her address is at the Forestry Commission. With a gloomy mind, Kristine returns to Helsinki and soon leaves with her husband on a long trip abroad to Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, and London, where she remembers the bonfire, the Lapland forest, and Suontaa's kiss. "I want to go home, to the great forests," Kristine suddenly says, to the surprise of her table companions.
But Kristine and the mountain lord are irrevocably estranged, and Kristine is not even offended by the fact that he has a female friend for whom she buys presents. While spending the summer at the villa, Kristine unexpectedly receives a visit from Mrs. Suontaa, who tells her that her divorce is soon to be finalized and introduces her new boyfriend and fiance, Judge Erkiö. Kristine is at first so delighted that she starts to make fun of the charity ladies who arrive, but soon returns to her old life.
Time passes and Kristine can't get over her disappointment. She is reluctant to attend the Society's banquet until she learns that Suontaa is in town and will be joining her. At the dinner table, they reminisce about their trip together and share their own versions of how they think the legend of the Pakokylä should end. "The end of your fairy tale was very beautiful," Suontaa confesses to Kristine. "Here's to those who dare to live their storybook from cover to cover."
Kristine asks Suontaa to accompany her, which he takes as an offer to become "a rich lady's lover". Kristine takes offense and slaps the man, who responds by kissing her in front of the company. "An unprecedented scandal", the Counselor complains but finally relents, as Kristine has made up her mind after receiving a message from Suontaa: "My address is your father's old house. There is much work and poverty there." Kristine travels north and, after some banter, takes up residence in the house. She smiles when she hears him explain his blockage on the phone: "My wife arrived here today. I've been waiting for her for 17 months and eight days."
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