The movie takes place during World War II and depicts the true story of Jan Baalsruds amazing escape from the German army from the coast of Northern Norway and across the border to the neutral country Sweden.

Elling has lived with his mother all his life. Mom is the practical one, while Elling ponders the more theoretical aspects of life. He spends his time in their apartment reading books and looking at the neighbours through the living room window. Elling doesn't seem to need to be around others like most people. That's why Elling is less than enthusiastic when his mother suddenly decides to take her son on a beach vacation to Spain. Reluctantly, Elling agrees. After all, a lady at her age needs a good man by her side. But what Elling refuses to realize is that Mom is not only old, but also sick. Very sick. On her last vacation she tries to get Elling to see that life is bigger than their living room.

Set in Oslo during the 1950s. 12 year old Lars looks for diversions to take his mind off the deteriorating relationship between his parents. He spends his time getting up to mischief with his friend Peter. He travels into the countryside with his uncle on a motorcycle and he befriends Lill, a young prostitute. He also has to face the death of a loved one.

Per is a newly qualified social worker entering professional life. Through Per, we are confronted with welfare Norway in 1970. Over the course of a couple of short summer months, we get to know Per. He is a fairly ordinary, intelligent person. He has his problems in relation to himself and the opposite sex. He is in the process of becoming an adult. He is testing his attitudes and perceptions. He must find answers to questions that could be crucial to his future place in society.

In the late 1860s, after becoming engaged to three bachelors in the town, Petra flees from an angry mob and seeks refuge in a rectory. Based on the Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson novel "Fiskerjænten".

While Eva Magnus and her daughter, Jenny, are taking a walk, they discover a dead body floating along the riverside. Eva runs to the nearest phone booth and pretends to call the police. Then she leaves the body for someone else to find. Why? Konrad Sejer, the police officer investigating the case, links it to another unsolved murder of a woman killed in her bed. A woman that used to be a childhood friend of Eva Magnus.

Based on director Lotte Svendsen's own memories of her childhood on the Baltic island of Bornholm, but though it is set in 1981 the conflicts portrayed do not seem far away. At the start of the film Lars Erik and his wife Sonja are doing well on the Baltic island of Bornholm. Lars Erik is a successful fisherman, Sonja is a traditional housewife, proud of their new house bulging with consumer goods. Their love for each other is the sturdy footing on which their home is founded. Lars Erik employs three men on his trawler, and spends as fast as he earns, so when fishing quotas are cut he faces a crisis. One by one his men leave the boat, but he refuses to give up. Being a fisherman is like being a farmer - you depend on the wealth of mother nature herself. However, mother nature is like romance, highly capricious!

Douglas is a stuck-up policeman who works in the intelligence services, who believes that his status makes it okay to make other people's lives miserable.

The story takes place in a hedmark built during some summer weeks.

Knut'n (Bjorn Willenberg Andersen) comes home to the village on vacation with his wife Ingrid (Anne Krigsvoll) and daughters. He meets Atle (Jorgen Langhelle) "who have never achieved anything and still lives with his mother." Old conflicts and new jealousy comes up to the surface.