Kaj is a stubborn man with a great deal of pride. The former chef lives in a council flat. He has wasted his life and is now on a council job training scheme for the long-term unemployed, where he refuses to let the foreman of the activation project boss him about. When Kaj's daughter, with whom he has not been in touch for nineteen years, moves into the same council estate on the run from her violent husband, a change comes over Kaj. His initial instinct is to avoid her, but by chance he ends up helping to look after Jonas, her six-year-old son. For the first time for years Kaj need not survive on his own devices. Now he has responsibilities and a family of his own.

The film is based on Christian Kampmann's novels: "Certain Considerations", "Solid Relationships", "Clean Lines" and "Other Ways" (1973-75). The Gregersen family is a picture of inner and outer Denmark from the mid 50's to the 70's. The story begins in 1954 in the well-behaved, but not just successful, Gregersen family from the best part of the whiskey belt on the right side of Strandvejen.

Eleven-year-old George is the new kid in the Apple Orchard housing complex. He and the other kids are terrorized by JB, the tyrannical superintendent. George starts out as an outsider, until he discovers he has a talent for leadership. Eventually, the other kids follow George in dreaming up a challenge to JB's abuse. Then, surprising events bring in the police, but the cops mess up. That's when George's gang of little rascals save the day!