The film raises the contrast between the plain corrupted (the Low) and uncontaminated mountain (High Land). The protagonist, Manelic, a simple, primitive, Marta wants to marry a girl from the Low Country that until then had been forced to be intimate with his master, Sebastian.
In order to get María Rosa, the woman he is deeply in love with, Marsal murders a moneylender hated by all the people and casts suspicion on his friend Andrés, the husband of his beloved María Rosa. After being imprisoned Andrés, Marsal becomes the protector of María Rosa while waiting for the development of events.
Ramon loves Catalonian peasant Maria Rosa. He uses a knife belonging to her love Andreas to kill fisherman Pedro, so Andreas goes to jail for ten years. Maria will wait for him, but Ramon convinces her Andreas dies in prison so she agrees to marry him. On their wedding day Ramon is paroled. Maria then stabs Ramon.
Sebastien, a landowner, shelters the orphan Marta in exchange for sexual favors. When, years later, Sebastien's fortunes ebb, he marries Muri, the daughter of a rich man, and arranges for Marta to marry the shepherd Manelich. Sebastien assures Marta that Manelich knows of their relationship and will not interfere, but she discovers that her husband is ignorant of the affair and, in fact, loves her. Because she comes to return her husband's love, she confesses her past, after which Manelich kills Sebastien. With Marta at his side, the shepherd then returns to the hills. -From TCM.com Database, powered by the AFI.
