1905. A couple of cheerful traveling salesmen, Hansen and Larsen, are on their last round of visits to customers before settling down in the big city to open their own business selling women's underwear. They hold a farewell dinner for one of their old customers in Lilleby. There is a ball at the hotel, and a couple of young ladies make the acquaintance of the two friends, which will have consequences in more ways than one.

Mrs. Adda Ernst is a middle-aged lady of the bourgeoisie. She has a nice husband Mr. Ernst, a lovely home and two healthy children Birgit and Hans, who like most of their peers are interested in swing. Mrs. Adda is musical herself, and has a beautiful singing voice, sometimes she can fall into melancholy over the career she never had. But she is naturally endowed with a rare good mood, she soon sheds her sad mood. In reality, she has only one worry. She is afraid of getting old, and therefore makes some convulsive efforts to still seem young. She refuses to realize that her daughter has grown up.