Jeppe's earliest memory was of his mother, Anne Marie, taking care of him. Now, as a four-year-old, he hasn't seen his mother in some time, as he lives with his Tante Karla, but no one bothers to explain to him where she's gone. Karla loads him onto a train to Hjorring to be with his other Tante, Rosa, and Uncle Anton, with almost no possessions to his name. When he arrives, it is clear to him that Anton is very sick, with what he will soon come to learn is bone cancer. Rosa is both warm and cold to him, and Anton attempts to comfort him by reading him bedtime stories, but Jeppe feels slightly out of place. There are no other children in the town, so Jeppe makes friends with an old man named Per, and the two take walks around the town, where they often stop at a cemetery which Jeppe mistakenly takes for a playground. Anton's health is rapidly declining and one day, Rosa is dressed up and asks Jeppe to come into his room, where Anton lays with two presents, handing one to Jeppe. It is a watch that Jeppe will grow into, gasping at its beauty, and Rosa gets a bracelet. The next day, Rosa wakes him, telling him that Anton is gone and they attend his funeral, Jeppe finally understands where his uncle has gone to, staring at the casket in the cemetery. A few days after, Jeppe returns home to see a woman seated at the piano, and immediately recognizes her as his mother. She wants to take him back and care for him, but Rosa argues with her, and says she only wants him because she'll get money from the state, and that once she's tired of him anew, she'll drop him off some place else. Rosa wants to keep him badly, and says that she is grateful she had him during Anton's passing, but Jeppe wants to go with his mother. As Anne Marie and Rosa argue, Jeppe takes the book that Anton had read to him and runs off. His mother catches up to him, and says that they'll be just in time for the bus. Jeppe waves goodbye to Rosa.