The body of a local teenage girl named Annie was found by an idyllic pond in the woods. The suspect list grows indefinitely. However, as Inspector Sejer and his partner Jacob Skarre question the girl's family, and others, they realize she has a shocking secret she shared with no one.

A group of migratory rail road workers arrive in a small town in Norway, and cause social conflict. One of the men, Sjugur, stands apart as a strong, independent man. The girls like him, but he has set his sights on the daughter of a wealthy landowner.

The life of the swedish writer Moa Martinson: at the age of 18, Moa marries the stone worker Karl and has five children. The marriage becomes stormy and fringed with tragedies. In the adversities, Moa begins to write about her life. She tells unpleasant truths, and doesn't get much understanding. Her life changes when the books are published in ever larger editions. She can tear herself out of her poverty, but never abandons her origins. In 1929 she remarries the writer Harry Martinson.

The story Peter is telling the about a special summer, when he is invited over to summer holiday from bickering parents, to his aunt and uncle in the country. He's been there before, but this summer was quite one to remember.

The ageing communist Olav is starting to question his own faith after an encounter with the former priest Eilif who tells the story of how he lost his faith in God.

16 year old LP (Håkon Bolstad) has just graduated from junior high school. He lives in Oslo and he's the only-child to a middle-class couple. Wanting to get away from his parents he steals a sailboat, vaguely envisioning to look up some girl he once knew a bit down the Oslofjord. Not knowing how to sail he almost collides into a pier when the stunningly beautiful Line (Benedikte Lindbeck) rescues him. She jumps on board and joins LP on his journey. LP is sullen and introvert, however, the confident and well versed girl thaws him as they continue on their sunny escapade of the Oslofjord archipelago. Then LP's father (played by seasoned Norwegian leading actor Nils Ole Oftebro) appears and demands the end to the adventure. A battle of wills ensues between the equally stubborn father and his offspring. Neither has really learned to know the other, and Line becomes the catalyst which makes both realize new aspects about the other.