12-years-old Emika spends her vacations on a small island. With her cousin Antti they build the most magnificent hut, and pick berries. Until it’s time to swim with birds. In Maiden of the Lake Emika explores the lakeside environment in all four seasons, and learns many new skills from Antti. They stay overnight on the frozen lake under the Aurora Borealis. They build a nest for a ringed seal. They swim and fish. In early summer they discover the world’s rarest seal in the maze of thousands of islands. Emika tends to talk to Antti candidly about the questions of life – both the small and the big.