One evening in the former region of East Prussia, a farm boy lies with a girl named Maria under a willow tree by the Deime river. Maria lives and travels with her family in a river barge, and she is leaving that night. The boy asks Maria what it's like living in the city, and she assures him that it's dull. The boy watches Maria, lamenting that she will soon learn "the pain of living." At that moment, he feels the same emotions when his friend Paul died of tuberculosis. The boy feels sexual desire for Maria but tries to suppress it. The two fetch the horses at the nearby corral and head back to the boy's barn. Despite the boy's warning, Maria decides to ride on the ill-tempered yellow stallion. They ride through a path next to the river towards the old barn. There, they dismount and fetch water from the well for the horses. Looking at the horizon, the boy sees the black river barge and angrily remembers that it is leaving soon.

The boy and Maria head to the barge in the river to eat supper. As they silently walk, the boy dreads that he will never see her again. He imagines telling her to leave, reassuring her that she'll soon find a lover and have children. He imagines her appearance deteriorating after she experiences the torment of living. He has long ceased fighting for love as he has been struggling with poverty. Arriving at the barge, they sit with Maria's parents at the cabin's dinner table and eat potatoes dipped in oil. After they eat, the boy and Maria's father smoke tobacco. The father tells the boy they will be leaving and will probably never see each other again. He thanks the boy for the milk he gave them. Maria sits with them and tells the boy not to overwork the yellow stallion horse. She tells him they will be far away by the time he is in the fields with the horses the following day. When the boy reaches the barn, he looks back to see the barge, but it is gone. He then goes into the stable.