An elderly Nenet woman in teepee on northern Russia's Jamal Peninsula recounts her early life betrothed to a deity for the entertainment of a blind young girl. In the Nenet culture, a girl child can be married to holiest of holies, Num, before or after her birth. Lonely old Numbd Syarda (which means, literally, 'tied to Num') entertains the blind young Ilne ('giver of life') with stories of how she became one of these chosen few.