Dans la cambrousse ceinte de ruines et de forêts, un ermite sourd et muet, troque l'observation de la nature pour celle d'un jeune couple qui s'installe sur un terrain voisin, fait construire une maison et entreprend de la protéger.
In a part of Flanders where flax is the main crop, farmer Vermeulen rules his estate like an 'old school' patriarch, stern and authoritarian, nobody else's word is ever taken seriously, just scolded fools, he rather risks being wrong then considering any advice. His marriage is based on a grim understanding: the wife Barbele accepts his heartless manner with everyone, even their studious, smart, healthy, studly son and heir Louis, but his two silly sisters are spoiled with a pointless fancy nunnery ...