Tar Steam Princess Armada travels along Lake Saimaa to St. Petersburg and back during the years of Russian rule over Finland. The ship's crew gets tired of their sophisticated coffee maker and replaces her with Roma girl Veera, who has escaped from an arranged marriage. On the way back, mysterious passengers appear on the ship.

In the summer of 1944, long-range reconnaissance soldier Jaakko Tulivaara returns to his family and girlfriend Anna for a break in his home village in Kainuu, located near the Soviet border and the war zone, which is protected from partisans by a military unit led by Sergeant Tolvanen.