Poor but ambitious country girl Hulda arrives in the country's capital and gets a job as a maid for a bachelor Member of Parliament, Judge Soratie. She works hard, never loses her common sense, and starts taking evening classes. Keeping her studies secret from her employer for years, she eventually graduates from the university and becomes candidate in the parliamentary election, stressing women's and working people's rights. Romance with Judge Soratie finally ensues.

A film about two rival student groups making their own Olympics. The student chairman Pena recruits to a boxing match the insect researcher and bookworm Matti Kiviaho, mainly to embarrass him before his girlfriend Laila. During the summer young people preparing for the games practice both for sports and romance.

Katri is hired as a maid in Ruuhiniemi. Over the years, she works hard and even dares to dream of love and being the owner of the farm, but the scheming in the division of the inheritance complicate the future.

A new steward, agronomist Paul, arrives at the Siltala estate. The self-assured steward causes tension among the gentry, especially among the estate's owner, Captain Lilli's widow. The flamboyant Lieutenant Hugo courts the owner of Siltala, but Lilli and Paul find common ground.