Greta Berthels

The year is 1025 and Arnljot Sunvisson has returned home after a long journey to find that his betrothed has married another.

Robert, an upper-class officer, meets and falls in love with Iris, a house maid. His family will do anything to stop her from marrying him.

At a parish meeting Åsa-Nisse suggests that they should hire a common home help, who could give their wives some relief by staying one week at each household. The meeting assents and decides that the order of her rotation should be established by lot. The two bachelors of the village claim their right to the home help as well, arguing that they are also taxpayers. When Elsa Haglund arrives from Gothenburg she starts her first week of work at one of the two bachelors, the village shop-keeper Sjökvist. He is immediately infatuated by her and begins a flirtation. At the end of the week Elsa happens to meet the other bachelor, Eric Broo, called "the singing farmer". She falls in love with him, but doesn't know how to hook him, as he is very shy and unskilled in courting women. In the meantime Åsa-Nisse, the village rogue, carries out some of his pranks.

it's the 1840s and a rural parish plagued by drinking and fighting gets a new vicar who has decided to instill law, order and fear of God into the parishioners.

Bad harvests and starvation makes northern Swedish farmers consider emigrating to the USA.

The unemployed Loffe meets his old friend Wilhelm and gets some money. A year later it's time for Loffe to help Wilhelm.

Lena Bergström works in an office and is unhappily in love with her boss, Johan Borg. She decides to quit. Borg's wife won't have any children, and when she becomes pregnant she has an illegal abortion. For some reason, Lena's father believes that it is Lena who has had an abortion.

Imber has a child with the dubious fiancé Erland. He is destructive and his unhealthy lifestyle subjects his family to starvation and the death of their child. Imber falls in love with Arne and a settlement between Arne and Erland unfolds.