A widowed mother and her two young children live in a small Swiss mountain cottage and struggle through a harsh winter when food grows scarce. To help, the mother teaches them a carol for the New Year and the children go from house to house singing for bread, cheese, and nuts, earning enough to ease immediate need. The account follows the family through changing seasons as they tend goats, cut and store hay, and carry on their daily labors, emphasizing perseverance, domestic care, and occasional communal kindness.