- The daughter of Niva's house, Saima, rescues a German Lieutenant from a river. He was separated from his group after escaping the Murman railway labor camp. He recovers in the care of Saima but the police get wind of the escapees.
- Erkki Karu's silent drama Fugitives From Murmansk is based on the novel by Kaarlo Hänninen. In the autumn of 1916 in northern Finland, Saima, the daughter of Niva's house, rescues a man drifting in a river, who turns out to be German Lieutenant Braun. Braun and his six comrades have managed to escape captivity at the Murman railway work site, but the lieutenant has been separated from the lost group. While Braun recovers in the good care of Saima, Niva's neighbor and gendarme henchman, the greedy policeman Simpura, gets wind of the refugees camped in the wilderness.
- Northern Finland, autumn 1916: Saima, the daughter of Niva's house, and her brother rescue a man drifting in the river, who turns out to be German Lieutenant Braun. After regaining consciousness, the man tells of his home in Germany, his father, mother, and fiance, the war, and his imprisonment on the Murman railway line. Braun has managed to escape with six of his comrades, but they are lost and have not found their Finnish guide, Väinö Taipale, Niva's neighbor and honest patriot. In his search for a game, Braun has separated from his friend Hahn and they have drifted into the river: when a flimsy raft broke, Hahn drowned.
Meanwhile, Taipale waits in vain for the Germans at the rendezvous point. He finds Hahn's body on the riverbank and buries it. In the woods, he finally meets the camped refugees, the artist Haase, the Reverend Gottleben, the sausage-maker Sonntag, the sergeant-major Schönemann, and the cook, who, starving, have quarreled over the 'best part' of a meager meal. Taipale breaks the news and hurries the men on, as the policeman Simpura, Niva's other neighbor and henchman of the gendarmes, has also been tipped off about the refugees.
Guided by Taipale, the Germans pass the village and continue their arduous journey. Simpura, who has not received any help from the village, even though he has offered a reward, tracks down the fugitives, but is discovered and taken prisoner. Before the most dangerous part of the journey, Simpura unties his bonds, stuns his guard with a log, and manages to escape. The fugitives decide to head to Kemi instead of Tornio: Simpura overhears the plan and alerts the chief of the Kemi gendarmes. The fugitives get to the Rajaluoto fish sauna in a fishing boat, the gendarmes follow in a motorboat. A firefight ensues, during which the Germans, led by Taipale, seize the motorboat and flee to safety.
In Niva, Braun has recovered under the good care of Saima and is about to continue his journey when Simpura appears in the house accompanied by three gendarmes. Braun is in the process of casting nets with his host and Saima tries to warn him with the agreed sign, a cloth tied to the wellhead, but the wind blows it loose. Inside, the gendarmes have found a German weapons jacket, and the unsuspecting man who returns to the hut is captured after a scuffle. At night, Saima frees Braun and lets him escape through his own chamber. Simpura, who had set off on the chase, is later found dead in the marsh. Taipale catches up with Braun and guides him to Tornio, where the German crosses the border on ice and travels by train from Haaparanta to his homeland.
After the war, Braun returns to Finland accompanied by Haase, an artist who has found "eternal values" in the northern wilderness. The reunion between Braun and Saima is heartfelt. Taipale celebrates the occasion by raising a flag: "And the blue and white colors flew on the skies of free Finland."
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