Fabian Bom is a waiter at a hotel in a small town. But he dreams of doing something else - to dance and sing on a stage. He is madly in love with Matilda Roos, singer and diva. Fabian is too insensitive to notice that Annie, who works in the kitchen, is in love with him. Encouraged by Matilda, Fabian leaves the hotel and goes to Stockholm to become famous. But, as he soon learns, it is more difficult than he first thought.

In 1803 the Swedish inventor John Ericsson is born. After a military career he went to England and became one of the first builders of locomotives. Despite large debts, he invents the propeller. In 1839 he crosses the Atlantic and builds ships for the US Navy. When the US civil war breaks out, the Federation needs a ship to match the Confederate 'Merrimac' and preventing the Confederation from exporting cotton to Europe. Ericsson builds the 'Monitor', a ship the Federation needs to win the war.

A story spanning four generations.

A pre-program cabaret by Svensk Filmindustri (SF) including the vocal trio Sorbon Sisters, The Two Alverados and the SF orchestra.

Swans, ducks and countless other birds in Lillfjärden, Sweden.

A Swedish film about ore mining and processing in Kiruna, Malmberget and Grängesberg.

A 1942 short film.

A portrait of Swedish life and landscapes, filmed in 1936.

1952 - he year when Gösta Snoddas Nordgren sings Flottarkärlek on the radio and it becomes a hit. Gustaf VI Adolf turns 70. A Swedish DC-3 disappears and a Catalina plane is shot down by Soviet fighter aircraft. A Swedish spy business is being rolled out. Fritjof Enbom has given information to the Soviet Union. It is also an Olympic year - Winter Olympics in Oslo and Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

1951 - the year when Snoddas plays bandy and the naval spy is exposed. Stålfarfar rides a bike, Pär Lagerkvist receives a Nobel Prize and Tage Erlander and Karl Gerhard are getting older. Out in the world there's a cold war and in Sweden there's the big Västgöta maneuver. There's a plastic fashion and new hairstyles for a new age.