The unlucky layabout Isarkar Keturi brings a criminal gang to heel with the help of his assistant Mikael. He frees Irma, the daughter of mining magnate Tömstet, from captivity and a forced marriage to Kurt. Irma achieves her dream of becoming a pop star, with Isaskar's help.

Laila is an innocent Lappish girl and the only daughter of a reindeer herder. During World War II, Laila rescues a crashed German fighter pilot, Hans, and the two develop warm feelings for each other during his convalescence. Years later, after the war, Hans returns to Lapland as a freelance photographer and manages to lure Laila to run away with him to the capital, Helsinki, to start a career as a photo model, much to the chagrin of her traditional father, Aslak. After initial happiness, however, Hans abandons Laila, and the decadent lifestyle of a big city sends her life into a downward spiral.

A middle aged widower Sanna has emigrated to Sweden after her husband's death . She lives in Linköping with her two children and works in the local library. During one of the lectures held for the immigrants in the library, she meets doctor Peter Mackus and starts exchange letters. Quite soon they fall in love.

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.

Two brothers, two different lifestyles collide. Eero is a young married man who opens up a print shop and struggles to get it going. Eki is a student with Marxist ideas, although he dates the daughter of a wealthy shipowner.