A sequel to Soinio's film Kuutamosonaatti (Moonlight Sonata) of 1988. A rural family clings to life until the resourceful Sulo uses the salvific powers of sauna, moonshine, and tar to resurrect his injured brother Arvo, their deceased mother, and even buried revolutionaries. When Arvo drifts to Helsinki and falls into illicit moonshining and wild pursuits of a celebrity, Sulo and their revived mother set out to retrieve him from his urban excesses.

Second silver screen adaption of the Finnish war book by Väinö Linna. The story is based on Linna's experiences as an infantry man in the Finnish army during the so called "Continuation War" (1941-1944).

Pekka arrives back to his home village of Jerusalem to celebrate the last wedding of the village. His own marriage seems to have reached a dead end. The people of the village gather to prepare for the event, and the bitter spectrum of all human life, with its joys and sorrows, is condensed into one summer's day.