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.

At Smedestræde 4 in Copenhagen, a young orphan girl named Elsebeth Jacobsen lives next door to Carl Thomsen, a somewhat dubious character. Elsebeth, who works in a small greengrocer's shop, has only two real friends. One is a young bicycle courier, Poul Andersen. The other is a small Icelandic horse that brings fresh vegetables to the shop every morning. She and Poul Andersen spend a lot of time at the youth center.