Kristin is the daughter of a respected and charismatic landowner in medieval Norway. As the eldest surviving child of her parents’ six children (Kristin has two younger sisters and three brothers who died in infancy), she shares a special connection with her father even while perpetually feeling like she is held at arm’s length by her mother, whom she has never been able to please. As the eldest, she is also the first to be considered marriageable, and at the age of fifteen is promised to Simon Andresson, the son of another local family.

Kristin’s narrative arc over the course of the novel moves her from a state of curious innocence, beloved by her father, to that of a worldly and wise married woman who has been through numerous trials, losses, and scandals. In her early years, she is completely devoted to her father, marking the passing of time by his yearly summer trips to see the family estate and reveling in “the great joy when he returned home” (21). As she matures, however, her relationship with her father grows more distant as she feels less and less free to share her thoughts and feelings with him.