Dreamforest

Karoliena Kapp is a child of the forest. She is bright, beautiful and she has an intimate knowledge and understanding of her surroundings. Born into a community of woodcutters, she becomes enraged at the injustices and harsh working conditions that her family is forced to endure. Her beauty serves as her ticket out of the forest, as Johannes, a well-to-do village dweller proposes to her and presents her with opportunities she would otherwise never have had. After moving in with him, she yearns for her old life amongst the trees and birds of the lush Knysna forests and she runs away from her new husband, choosing poverty and hardship instead. Shunned by her mother for turning away from an apparent better life, Karoliena must find her own strength and independence. She courageously protests about the plight of the poor whites to the Carnegie Commission which comes to investigate life in the forest, realising that her greatest fulfilment comes from helping others. Eventually the woodcutters and Karoliena are forced to move away from the forest, and Karoliena has to adapt to life in the village, and in the process she experiences the love that she had previously resisted.