一对孪生姐妹，从小被母亲抛弃，由外婆抚养长大，外婆过世后姐妹俩被孤儿院收留。她们的母亲靠跟着不同的男人过活。某一日母亲与在马戏团的男友突然在孤儿院中出现，他是来自马戏团内表演秋千的艺人，第一眼就看中灵巧、身体柔韧的姐姐，想带她离开。而孤儿院要求他们把妹妹一起带走。在马戏团内严厉的训练下让姐姐心生厌烦，一日在表演中从高高的秋千上掉下来，其实身体并没有受到很大的伤害，但她的内心却从此尘封了起来，不跟人说话。马戏团巡回表演到匈牙利，母亲与两个女儿对于男友而言已毫无利用价值，在一次共产党叛变的混乱中，男友也离她们而去。母亲又凭着一贯的伎俩，利用一位俄国军官，带着两个女儿撘上火车到了芬兰。在火车上，妹妹发现自己偷偷地学会了吞火的技巧，也因此得到母亲的赞赏，她们三人搭乘一辆老旧的巴士，在芬兰北部地区巡回演出，她表演吞火，妈妈和姐姐当助理，所有男客贪婪的眼光都盯着她那近乎半裸的身体不放。有一天表演之后，两姊妹发现母亲又和一个老男人在床上，姐姐再也无法忍受母亲这种水性杨花的个性，她冲向树林跳入冰冷的河水中，妹妹奋不顾身的将她救上岸来，但是最后无情的命运终究还是拆散了她们。

This biographical film celebrates the little-known life of the Finnish novelist and revolutionary Maiju Lassila (Asko Sarkola), born in 1868. Lassila's early years are briefly shown, then the film richly details his active and paradoxically reclusive adult life, beginning with his sojourn in St. Petersburg, working as a businessman. Unable to stay away from politics, he caused the assassination of a high-ranking Czarist and as a result, had to run back to Finland to hide. Once established in the comparative safety of a small village, he taught school in order to support his real vocation as a writer. Always living on the edge of poverty, if not square in the middle of it, Lassila continues to avoid public contact - he keeps his identity low-key and camoflages it by publishing under a variety of pseudonyms.