Hugo Ranta

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.

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.

The story presents the achievements of the Student Union Singers during the Rengasmatka revue, both on stage and off stage. The performance is organized to raise funds for the choir's trip to America, which is being organized by Risto and Kale. The evening is colored by travel tickets that have fallen into the wrong hands, which the travel agency girls Mirkku and Kikka are feverishly searching for behind the stage.

In the 1910s, beautiful young Silja loses both parents and ends up working as a maid at wealthier farms around her village. She is courted by a number of bachelors, ranging from simple farmhand Väinö to sophisticated young student Armas whom she meets when working for a charming old professor. However, Silja's health starts to deteriorate, and when the Finnish Civil War breaks up in 1918, she is inadvertently involved in a small incident after which her loyalties are questioned by both the Reds and the Whites.

Master Tuula Vihervo teaches languages ​​at a women's college, where American-Finnish Charles Thompson Jr arrives to do an inspection on behalf of his father's college donor. The arrival of a guest and Tuula's infatuation causes a stir inside the college and in a restaurant in Helsinki, where Tuula starts performing as the singer Irina Meller.

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.

Eliisa Raaska, who lives in the Soviet Union, wants to move to Finland to be with her beloved Mikko Vanhalan, but she does not want to leave her elderly and sick father in Ingria.

Baron von Sumers, owner of the Tottisalmen estate, sends his mischievous grandson Klaus to learn manners at the vicarage in the neighboring parish. Yrjö, the vicarage's farmhand, has an accident because of Klaus and ends up in Tottisalmen for medical treatment. When Yrjö's resemblance to the baron's missing son is noticed, events from the past begin to unfold.