Bettina Eriksen, manager of her Uncle Teodor's nursing home, is being framed for murder. With the help of 2 older ladies, Bettina sets out to find out the murderer's identity and motive.

In a hospital's five-bed room—room number 13—there are five very different men with very different backgrounds: District Court Judge Winther, fashion designer Philip André, bank teller Madsen, the incorrigible burglar Herluf "Smukke Arne" Jensen, and legation secretary Konrad Konradsen. The legation secretary has done something foolish and fallen into the clutches of the blackmailer Helmer Gamtofte. He is in possession of some compromising photographs, which he keeps in a safe deposit box at the bank where Madsen works. The camaraderie that develops in room 13 becomes the driving force that prompts the district court judge to suggest that "Smukke Arne" help Konradsen break into the bank and steal the photos.

A young, beautiful girl arrives at Krogerød Kro on Mols and shocks the innkeeper by telling him that he is her father. At the same time, the inn is about to lose its liquor license, threatening its very existence. The innkeeper tells the girl that both he and his friend from his military days have paid child support to her, as no one knew which of them was her real father.

A dangerous prison escaper, a young Jutland woman, and a bank clerk, who has just deprived his employer of some cash and is now headed abroad, meet on a lyntog (literally "lightning train") from Arhus to Copenhagen.

We follow two randomly selected destinies: two young girls whose data could have been taken straight from the police files, which contain so many human documents—many sad, but also many joyful, because a large proportion of those who were initially weak and frivolous are saved from the temptations of the big city.