Sometime in the 1700s, Mikkel, a farmer from Jutland, wants to marry off his daughter Cecil to the wealthy Mads Egelund, but she is in love with the haberdasher Esben. Mads proposes, but does not receive a definitive answer. Shortly afterwards, Esben leaves for Holsten on business, and Cecil vows to wait for him. A couple of years pass. After an attempt to force Cecil to marry Mads, she is now in a state of insanity. Esben returns home happy and prosperous, but Cecil does not recognize him and, in a fit of madness, she cuts his throat during the night. Some time passes and Cecil regains her sanity. She does not know what she has done and is still waiting for Esben. Mads comes to visit, and after Cecil has rejected yet another marriage proposal, he reveals the truth to her, and with a wild scream she falls back into insanity.

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