Sweden 1951. A new society is developing, a society where there is no room for the socially and mentally weak. Gertrud is a 17 year old girl from a very poor family. Against her will, she is committed to a work home for young women. Gertrud learns that the only way out is by agreeing to a voluntary sterilization. Gertrud falls in love with the janitor, Axel and soon finds herself pregnant. She dreams about a normal family life with Axel and the child, and doesnt realize that when performing the operation the doctor will most certainly take the child away. She changes her mind about the operation but she no longer has a choice. Now there is only one way out: She pretends to be mentally deranged and is transferred to a mental hospital. A child grows in her womb. Gertrud has fooled the system, but the price she pays is her own future.