After staying 3 years in America the Countess Ellie Stenholt (Marguerite Viby) returns home to Denmark and the family estate Stenholt. She finds that everything isn't going well noticing that the estate is falling apart and money is short.

Ditte is born out of wedlock and lives as a young girl with her old beloved grandmother. As an illegitimate child she is teased in school and more than anything in the world she wants a father. When steady - utterly reliable - herring dealer Lars Petter shows up and tells her that he is marrying Ditte's mother, the little girl is very happy. Now Ditte must take care of three new sisters and brothers but gets nothing but complaints from her ungrateful, selfish mother. But the little girl finds consolation and support in both her sisters and brothers and Lars Petter.

A middle aged married woman suffers from depression. Her husband suggests she get a dog, but instead she gets a job. Treatment of the women workers leads her into a hilarious fantasy in which roles are reversed and bearded men sit behind typewriters worrying about their looks and what to buy for dinner. She gets involved in a strike and loses her job, but has found some friends and a more positive attitude to life.

Jeppe Aakjær's heroic poem about Jens Langkniv becomes something more than the story of a robber in a small parish in Jutland.

John (played by Erik Clausen) is in prison for petty crime. His son is getting married and he has been granted accompanied leave to attend. The provincial Bo (played by Jesper Asholt) accompanies him.