Seldom is a person so alone as Ritva - the leading character in 'Small Pilgrimage' - in a barn giving birth to a baby girl born out of wedlock. The time is the fifties and place Ostrobothnia, the politcally and religiously rigorous conservative region in Finland. Ritva feels forced to abandon the baby. However, she meets her again in the hospital, where Ritva works as a kitchen help and where the foundling turned sick is brought to. The whole community condemns the unknown mother. Ritva wants to take care of the sick baby but is afraid to step forward. Finally she has to make up her mind and confess in front of the entire community. The film is based on a true story from the fifties which has haunted the producer of the film even since she was a girl. The story could easily have been turned into a melodrama, but with very economic storytelling, directing, acting and photography, it's turned into a universally valid drama of individual and community, guilt and reconciliation.