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A young woman has been traveling alone for days, fleeing circumstances she desperately wishes to escape. She is heavily pregnant, exhausted, and frightened. With no family willing to take her in and nowhere safe to go, she finds herself caught in a terrible situation when labor begins unexpectedly. A passing traveler discovers her during a storm, tucked away near an old woodland road. He initially thinks she's injured until he realizes she's giving birth. He's a gentle, unmarried man who lives in a modest cottage on the outskirts of a nearby village. Perhaps he's a blacksmith, a farmer, a widowed lord's younger son, or a village healer. Rather than questioning her circumstances, he immediately tries to help. He brings her into his home, keeps the fire burning, fetches the village midwife, and does everything he can to make her comfortable. But when morning comes, he realizes that neither the woman nor her newborn has anywhere else to go. And he finds himself unwilling to send them away.