This the story of a wizard elk - Rauten, as people called him. He was a human being in animal guise. The story begins in Ré Valley, which lies like a yawning gap between mountains, long and flat with borders of forests so dark that they look as though part of the blackness of night lingered in them. A river moves sluggishly along the bottom of the valley, making its way slowly and carefully between stretches of light-red sand. It runs northwards, a rare thing in Norway.

Karl Kraft uncovers a major weapon smuggling scheme going on in Oslo. Along the way he meets the waitress Lilly, who is involved in the affair.

Tore, son of a poor farmer, loves Berit, daughter of a rich one, but she's promised to another man whom she does not love and thus refuses to marry.

Well off Helga takers on a bet that she can be a house maid for a year, to get a diamond ring, which leads to a job that implicates quite a lot, and even challenges her father's motorcycle production business.