So popular was Sjöström's two-part The Sons of Ingmar that within a few weeks of its premiere half the population of Stockholm had seen it. It is an adaptation of the introductory chapter of Selma Lagerlöf's masterpiece Jerusalem, with landscape photography and a depiction of a disappearing nineteenth-century Swedish folk culture that universally caught the attention of critics. Young Ingmar Ingmarsson (Sjöström) makes a “visit” to heaven to ask his deceased father, Old Ingmar Ingmarsson, for some advice about a difficult situation. Young Ingmar's fiancée, Brita (played by Strindberg's third wife, the renowned stage actress Harriet Bosse) is to be released from prison after having served a sentence for killing their child in a fit of despair. Young Ingmar knows that he bears partial responsibility as he initially forced himself on Brita, then postponed their marriage when the crops failed. Even following his father's advice not to worry about the opinion of others, Brita and Young Ingmar still must tread a difficult road in order to forgive each other in this moving drama about love and atonement.