Writing
The film takes place in the summer and spring of 1940. Isä, the father, gets involved in the stock market and threatens the livelihood of the family.
Olli, a schoolboy from the Suominen family, accidentally causes two accidents, which he does not dare to confess to his father Väinö. He runs away from home in Helsinki and tries to get to the Savijärvi clearing camp with his friend Jaska. The journey, which began joyfully, turns into a nightmare when the boys, who have run into trouble, have to flee from the law and Olli's lively little sister Pipsa.
1790 Turku. After Katarina Thorwöst becomes a widow, there are many suitors, but her heart belongs to the fencing teacher lieutenant Carl-Magnus Schildt.
Olli Suominen goes through the usual troubles of a teenager. After being in the war he is trying to find his place in the society. And the relations with his family is in turmoil. He also finds the sweet life in restaurants more exhilarating than being in the school and reading books for the forthcoming student exams.
The headmaster of a private girls' school is doing her best to maintain strict discipline in the school. In addition to the loosening morals of the students, the warm relationship between two girls is a causing concern.
1892. Vappu Biörcke and Kaarlo Härkönen get to know each other during the summer in the countryside at the birthday of Vappu Jalle-sedä. In Helsinki, the young people continue their courtship under the supervision of Vapu's aunt, Moster Mella. However, Vapu's father, business advisor Ossian Biörcke, is not as accepting when his daughter's actions begin to be revealed.
Master Kaarlo Auer, who has achieved fame as the author of a successful novel, travels to a small town to meet Anna, the widow of his late friend Martti Vainio. Their daughter Virve Vainio finds an old calendar in the attic, in which an entry reveals literary theft.
An architect, who has recently married a new, younger wife, tries to re-connect with his ex-wife, who is being courted by another man.
Young Helena is reluctantly about to marry Brynolf, the chamberlain, when her cousin and beloved Paul arrives to stop the wedding and takes Helena to her grandmother's house. The grandmother thinks that the wedding has already taken place and that Paul is Brynolf, the chamberlain.
Pipsa catches the theater bug. The schoolgirl becomes obsessed with acting, which causes suffering for the whole family. Pipsa's brother Olli arranges performances for his sister and collects money for a poor war widow.
Olli Suominen fancies his teacher and other shenanigans.
In his will, Assessor Walter Timelius acknowledges that he is the father of his former housekeeper Iida's child. The assessor's sister Agda does not accept her brother's illegitimate daughter Marja Kauria into the family. The jealous aunt is shocked when cousins Hans Timelius and Marja, who are studying together, fall in love with each other.
Pianist Lauri Alango and his wife Annina's fortune is cracked when opera diva Delia Rosati attracts Lauri to accompany her on tour.
Returning to Helsinki from an unsuccessful tour of the countryside, an artist family finds itself in financial difficulties due to unemployment. Volmari Suurmetso, an engineer who has fallen in love with the family's singing daughter Sointu, wants to help and hires the whole family for a new revue. Sointu's sister Jutta and her boyfriend, journalist Erkka Karhu, write a script called "The Emperor's New Points," inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale and the clothing coupons used during times of scarcity.
The celebration of Professor Kristian Karpalainen's 60th birthday. The nervous birthday boy has lost his manuscript, which took years to write, in a traffic accident, and his publisher Haapio is coming to pick it up.
Olli Suominen has been appointed acting sheriff in the countryside, and the whole family has left for Kesäranta to spend the summer. The peaceful rural life is interrupted when small farmer Pullin's hay barn is destroyed in a fire and Anita and Aarne, the Lokka family who have moved in next door, get to know the Suominen family.
