Sven Buemann

At Smedestræde 4 in Copenhagen, a young orphan girl named Elsebeth Jacobsen lives next door to Carl Thomsen, a somewhat dubious character. Elsebeth, who works in a small greengrocer's shop, has only two real friends. One is a young bicycle courier, Poul Andersen. The other is a small Icelandic horse that brings fresh vegetables to the shop every morning. She and Poul Andersen spend a lot of time at the youth center.

"The ship is loaded with" four angry young men, an original skipper, a fashion model, a radio station, a pirate flag and various musical instruments. And the ship is at anchor in international waters and can not sail forward or backward. On the other hand it can emit radio advertising, and it does.

In one of Copenhagen's suburbs stands a large house, a villa-like property. The house is owned by the widow Elise Thomsen, who lives on the ground floor with her adult son, Eigil. Mrs. Thomsen rents out most of the villa. On the first floor lives the author Stefan Donner with his wife Lili and their 9-year-old son, Peter. Donner is talented but poor. The financial pressure on him and his family is getting on his nerves.

The young bank assistant Harald Løve is not particularly suited to sharing his name with the king of beasts. At least, courage and decisiveness have not been his strongest qualities thus far; quite the contrary. Løve is a timid man who is afraid of almost everything and everyone, not least his boss, the arrogant and somewhat eccentric provincial director, bank director Nikolajsen.