In a certain village lives the Jewish family of a farmer named Zachar. Against her will, he promises his beautiful daughter Rachel in marriage to a wealthy but aging neighbour. Rachel, however, loves another man. When she gives birth to a child, the enraged and disappointed father throws the infant into a pond. Overcome with despair, Rachel drowns herself, while her cruel father, tormented by his crime, hurls himself from a cliff into the abyss.