1864

It is the end of the First Schleswig War and we follow the lives of two young boys living in a rural part of Denmark. Their dad along with the baron's son, Didrich returns home as veterans. The dad sustained a leg wound and Didrich possibly got PTSD. In a modern story arch, a young girl Claudia is sent to help an old Baron.

As Laust and Peter grow up, they are both in love with Inge, who loves them both in return. Peter dreams of seeing more of the world, his interest piqued by the arrival of a family of travellers on the estate. On the politcal stage, the driven and somewhat unbalanced Monrad succeeds in stirring up a national euphoria in Denmark, a belief that the province of Schleswig has been given to the Danes by God. The Baron, seized by this nationalistic zeal, persuades the brothers of their duty to join the army.

Monrad forces a new constitution through parliament that incorporates Schleswig into the Danish kingdom and triggers a declaration of war from Prussia

At Dannevirke, Peter and Laust are dismayed to find the historic defences almost useless, and disheartened to learn that their new captain is Didrich.

Following the shaming evacuation of Danevirke, the retreating Danish troops are harried by bloodthirsty Prussian hussars. Laust's division is caught in a fierce snowstorm and he is ordered to retrieve an artillery piece from a frozen lake. Expelled by her family, Inge travels south towards Sonderborg to find Laust before their baby is born.