An artist bases a painting for a revealing lingerie ad on a photo of a girl he had found torn from a magazine, not knowing that the girl is in fact the daughter of the Finnish minister of finance. A scandal is about to erupt, and the artist is given 48 hours to find a strikingly similar-looking female model who could serve as his alibi. The minister's daughter decides to fool the artist by pretending to be a lowly girl of the streets, whom the artist then recruits as his "model".

Before her death, Anu's mother promises her daughter to the wealthy Junu of Ukonmäki. Anu loves the carpenter Mikko, who, upon hearing of Junu's engagement, leaves for Helsinki. However, Mikko misses Anu and his homeland, to which he returns with modern ideas of factory work and efficiency.