The Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck has been living with her mother in a village far from Helsinki since 1902. The nature lover and art dilettante Einar Reuter visits her there. Helene falls in love with the young admirer of her modernist paintings. They spend two years together, during which time Helene captures the fetching young man on canvas, and promotes his art. One day she receives a letter from Einar, and it breaks her heart … Director Antti J. Jokinen uses the unhappy end of this love affair for a poignant study of Helene Schjerfbeck’s artistic oeuvre. In the film, he orients himself to the colour palette of her paintings and takes her artistic process at least as seriously as the love story. Laura Birn lends the protagonist a fascinating presence with her accessible portrayal of the artist.