The stories of the aristocratic Lilliehjelm family, the middle-class Widing family and the poor Kajander family from the Finland's independence through the Civil War and the Roaring Twenties ending during the Second World War.

In the early 1900s, emigrant Hanna returns from Colorado to Finland. In America she was known as Dollar-Hanna, but in Finland she has to endure the Civil War and live through the prohibition. Hanna's independent spirit will guide her.

Tina and Cilla will soon turn 15 years old and is in the middle of teens search for an adult identity. They are identical twins but completely different. Tina cares mostly about makeup and falls in love with a new guy every week. Cilla is perceived as odd because she does not care at all about superficialities. She is a director of her own theater play to get money for starving children in third world countries. A young local rock musicians, Ailu, is making the music to her show. On her mother's birthday, Cilla die in an accident. Now it's as if half of her is lost.

Maja and Janne move to the barren and remote island of Stormskerry, where survival is a daily struggle. Growing up in a world of old values, Maja becomes aware of a new era: a woman can be an equal partner instead of a mere bystander. The couple have children, and life is good until trouble sets in: war arrives on the island, Janne is forced to flee from the English troops, and Maja and the children are imprisoned. The family also faces many financial difficulties and death. Years pass, but Maja remains strong and stays in Stormskerry despite all the hardships and difficulties.

13-year-old Erik tries to get his father to love his mother again, but his father focuses his attention on his business, a sawmill on the verge of bankruptcy in 1960s Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia. Only when you have lost everything can you appreciate what you have.