Plot
After the death of his wife, Pierre Amsler, the mayor ("président") of the village of Saint-Luc in the mountainous Haut-Valais region of Switzerland, is left to bring up his two children, Jean (c.10 years old) and Pierrette (c. 5 years old). He sends his son away with his godfather, Canon Taillier, while he remarries with Jeanne Dutois, a widow with a daughter of her own (Arlette). When Canon Taillier breaks the news to Jean of his father's marriage, Jean is upset but promises to try to respect the decision.
When Jean returns home, he becomes resentful of his stepmother Jeanne whom he sees usurping his mother's place, and his feelings find their outlet in his growing hostility towards Arlette. Finding that his spacious bedroom is now occupied by Arlette and Pierrette and that he now has a smaller room, Jean takes the only portrait of his mother to his new room for comfort. While playing with Pierrette, he refuses to let Arlette join them. When he sees Jeanne take a dress that that his mother wore to make dresses for the two girls, he ruins it intentionally.
Jean and Arlette now despise each other. One day in winter while travelling in a sled, Jean surreptitiously throws Arlette's beloved childhood doll onto the track. That night, he tricks Arlette into venturing out onto the snow-covered mountain by telling her where her doll fell. Arlette gets lost and takes refuge in a chapel which becomes covered by an avalanche. Stricken with guilt, Jean tells Pierre what he has done, and a search party rescues Arlette from the chapel. Jean is silently reproached by his family, and when he turns to his mother's portrait for consolation it appears faded and distant.
Next day Jean writes a letter of apology to his father, saying that he is going away, and he asks Arlette and Pierrette to deliver it. He goes to a nearby stream, where he has seen an image of his mother smiling at him, and prepares to drown himself. The girls tell Jeanne of his departure and she goes in search of him. She finds him just as he falls into the stream, and she wades into the fast-running water to rescue him. As Jeanne comforts him back in his room, Jean finally accepts her as his new mother.
Read more about this topic: Faces Of Children
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