After losing his job and realizing that he is alone in the world, a businessman opts to voluntarily end his life. Lacking courage, he hires a contract killer to do the job. Then, while awaiting his demise, he meets a woman and promptly falls in love.

Documentary filmed on-set during the making of Aki Kaurismaki's "La vie de Boheme"

An afternoon newspaper reporter's tape recorder picks up sensitive information while he is working on a story about so-called yuppie culture. The picture shows the symbols of yuppie life, from muscle boats and convertibles to Mobira Cityman 900 mobile phones. However, a murder within the inner circle brings the superficial world of money and sex to a halt.

Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.

A restaurateur befriends a Syrian refugee who has recently arrived in Finland.

A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.

Detective Karisto releases Auno 'Räpsy' Pirilä from prison, who in turn has to calve his childhood friend Börje from criminal activities. Alcoholic Dolly takes Räpsy to live in Kallio, Helsinki, and hopes to move to Paris with her in the spring.