Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

The story is set around 1860 and centres on the fatherless and fearless young Petra. In a cross between romantic infatuation and struggle for freedom, she suddenly finds herself engaged to no less than three of her home town's most eligible young men, and Petra is having to escape, run out of town by a furious mob. (nfi.no)

Synnöve lives with her parents at the farm Solbakken on a sunny hill. Thorbjörn, who lives at Granliden in the shadow of a big mountain, often looks wistfully up to Solbakken. As teenagers they meet and fall in love. Another boy Knud Nordhaug is also yearning for Synnöve. Together with some companions he bullies Thorbjörn who knocks them down. When Knud meets Synnöve's father, he gets him to believe that it is Thorbjörn who is the bully. Synnöve's parents forbid her to meet Thorbjörn henceforth. (imdb)

The farmer Knut Husaby has a daughter, Aslaug, who is the most beautiful girl in the village. Many boys are after her, but Knut and his two sons drive them away, if they come too close to the farm. Aslaug is secretly in love with Tore Naesset. But he is only a smallholder's son, and when he asks for Aslaug's hand, her father just laughs at him. Instead her father wants Aslaug to marry Ola Thormundson, a gawky boy, who is the son of the wealthiest farmer in the village. (imdb)

Øjvind, a smallholder's boy, is a close friend with Marit, a farmer's girl, throughout their entire childhood. As an adolescent he one day recognizes that she has become a maiden, and that he has fallen in love with her. When he sees Marit dancing with Jon Halten, a farmer's son, he gets sad, and notices that when you start loving someone, you are not cheerful any more. He senses the social distance between himself and Marit and tries to compensate this by becoming the best pupil in the village

Norway : The Haugians Guttorm and Karen are the owners of the free and high-altitude Solbakken manor - in German Sonnenhügel. The joint daughter Synnöv - the only child - is called by the mother Synnöve. The Gutshof Granlinden is situated not far from the Sonnenhügel in the shady valley. His owner Sämund and Ingebjörg have several children together. Their eldest son is called Thorbjörn. Synnöve and Thorbjörn go to the same school, learn together and visit occasionally.