Pentti Saares

Teacher's daughter Anna cannot enter the music college because of her family's opposition. At the request of her relatives she goes to Helsinki to study administrative sciences, but nasty fellow students make the girl leave the university and apply to become a nurse.

When Continuation War started in Summer 1941, German soldiers arrived to Oulu. With their charm they conquered women and town boys. Finnish boys communicated with them on many levels: had trades, worked as interpreters, rotated business, spied on German love adventures and fought with each other about the favor of soldiers. In autumn 1944, the war was ending. Germans left Oulu by leaving behind fragile relationships, bastard kids and unfinished businesses. The most shocking of all was the faith of young Jake...

Lieutenant Takala meets his fellow partisans of 20th division many year after the war. With flashbacks we see the events of summer 1944.

Yrjö Niemelä leaves the countryside for Helsinki. Unemployed, homeless, and penniless, the young man attempts suicide in despair, but a Salvation Army soldier comes to his rescue at the last moment. His luck changes when Yrjö gets a job in a warehouse and, as a fast runner, becomes a sports coach. His childhood sweetheart Elsa encourages him to succeed.

Restorer stumbles upon ghosts in an old castle.

Maria, who lives in Hermann, Helsinki, takes in a baby abandoned on the steps of a bar. Mean neighbors call the foundling, named Stiina, a municipal orphan, which makes the girl ashamed of her background. Malicious gossip, constant poverty, and misfortune strengthen her spirit. Stiina grows up to be a brave and fair woman.

Katariina, an orphaned girl from the north, travels to Helsinki to live with her distant relative Mauri, who has been appointed her guardian. The unpretentious child of nature irritates, amuses, and charms Mauri, who is accustomed to high society, and his bachelor friends.