A country romance about the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human. Love and death become interlaced and with terrible consequences. The fortunes of the people in the country through the horses' perception.

Three children take their grandfather to the graveyard to visit their dead grandmother. When they find out that granddad is tired of living and is actually waiting to die the children get confused, especially the youngest one. Granddad has to find a way to explain to her that death is not the worst thing in the world, which starts a chain of bizarre events. This becomes a learning full experience for the youngest one, even though it leads to a tragic ending.

Post-war provincial Iceland: around 1950, Freyja, who'd been a plump teen, returns from America, a widow with a 20-inch waist, seven suitcases of dresses, and a list of who ever wronged or slighted her. She moves in with an aunt and socialist uncle: finding a new husband is high on her agenda, and she's mistrusted by Agga, a pre-teen who's our eyes and ears. The social order and Freyja are more complicated than they seem at first, and so may be her prospects. Class divisions, families ties, pride, the onset of puberty, and the power of Eros sliver the ice.

A film based on a play with the same name by Halldór Laxness

Middle aged bourgeoisie couple lives a loveless life along with their beautiful eighteen year old daughter. The man has a passionate desire for the girl who in fact is not his real daughter but the fruit of an affair of the woman early in the marriage. This leads to tragic events.