The Finnish army retreats during the war summer of 1944. Corporal Lauri Ojala is left on the wrong side of the Vuoksi River. He decides to break ranks with the army and goes home. Two months later, Ojala is forced to dig his own grave.

Based on a novel by the late Finnish writer Timo Mukka, this simple story focuses on what happens when Milka (Irma Huntus), a girl barely out of childhood, gets pregnant by Ojanen (Matti Turunen) a rustic fieldhand. Her own mother had been hoping to marry Ojanen, and her daughter's pregnancy turns their lives around. Set in the Lapp country of northern Finland, the scenery is breathtaking, made even more so by the isolation of the region. A sense of natural solitude is underscored by a slow-moving dialogue interspersed with long silences, and the connection between nature and the dialogue is underscored as the young Milka recites poetry while out in the countryside. The fate of Milka and her mother, however, is connected to the decision that Ojanen makes at the end.

A story about Marja Maronen, a 30-year-old office worker who is self-centered and pursues love and wealth. After her father's death, Marja is plunged into a crisis that shakes her entire life, the consequences of which are particularly reflected in her relationships and working life.

It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment. The company is transferred to the front lines. The next morning the soldiers wake to the sound of guns – the war has begun.