Summary

Saskia is a housewife with two small children, living in an area of the Netherlands that has been flooded by heavy rain and breaks in the sea dikes. She is living in the upstairs of a flooded house. Considering that some houses have been washed away, though, she is living fairly comfortably, with the cow for milk and butter and a small brazier for baking. She keeps house while Stijn has been conscripted to work at fixing the dikes. One day her husband hands her up from the boat a baby and the painting of the girl looking out the window, with a note that says, “Sell the painting, feed the baby.” This mystery is not solved in the story, and with the flood going on, there is not much opportunity for solving it, but Saskia falls in love with both baby and painting. She wants...