The film begins in 1881 at Stavoren, a small Dutch rural town, and follows Katie's family to Amsterdam, where they hope to escape grinding poverty by finding work. Upon their arrival Katie secures employment at a dye-works, but is fired when she refuses to have sex with the director. She finds a job at a hat shop, where, during a business trip to a brothel, she discovers her older sister Mina working there. Later that evening, back at the hat shop, she is brutally raped by the owner and, in revenge, smashes the shop window.