The sailor Axel Nord is asked by his captain to do him a favor before his leave begins. Captain Rundholm wants him to give a letter to his niece in Stockholm. As Nord discovers, it isn't easy to find somebody you never have met, and it isn't made easier by the fact that some crooks believe that the letter contains evidence proving embezzlement in the shipping company.

This film depicts every noteworthy event (in the eyes of the film-makers) in Sweden from the death of King Oscar II, in 1907, to the celebration of the 80th birthday of King Gustave V in Stockholm in June of 1938. This film is comprised largely of newsreel clips intermixed with the fictional story of the family lives of a working man and a well-to-do newspaper editor through two generations, with a special significance in the showing of the development of the social-democratic form of government in Sweden.

The politicians wants to build a factory on the allotment garden Solgläntan, but they encounter resistance.

The well-known musician and composer Åke Kjellberg wakes up in a nice Stockholm apartment. He lives in Count Sparvhök's empty home until it gets rented out.

An unemployed engineer wins a competition, first prize is a vacation to a luxury resort in the mountains.

Adolf Jansson makes a living doing odd jobs until one day he gets a job working as a butler in the Pettersson residence. Adolf is instantly liked by everyone in the family except the daughter Susette, whom Adolf has fallen in love with.

Count de Faber is working on a new type of explosive, but finds out that Professor Plussman has beat him to it. After an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the formula from Plussman, he breaks into the professor's house, steals the formula, and kidnaps his daughter, Mary. He takes her to Carlsten Fortress.