Ella Hval

The movie takes place on Oslo's east side sometime during the twenties. It depicts the workers' environment by traditional elements like unemployment, strike, poverty, alcoholism, absent fathers, wise and tired mothers, the dream of a better life and the friendship between the boys in the street.

The year is 1630. A young woman in Laupstad comes to a small mountain village. She witnesses a woman being hunted and captured.

Student Tom Polden lives in difficult conditions at home. His mother lives constantly on the memories of her deceased husband. Her little hat shop is rather poor and the economy is peal. Tom constantly hear about the magnificent father, and becomes a big blow when he overhears his father shot himself because he had embezzled a substantial amount of money.

It is midsummer in Oslo. There is intense activity on pier 1 just before the fjord boat is about to depart. The pier is crowded with people: families going to the countryside and fathers staying behind at home. Mrs. Rigmor Sande and her two children, Vesleper and Titten, are already on board and standing by the railing. Dad Per Sande, the soon-to-be grass cutter, is frantically searching for the family's suitcase, which has gone astray. The moorings are released and the boat is ready to depart. "You can leave your husband behind, but not your suitcase," exclaims the lively 21-year-old Ellen Stenersen. She and Per are left standing on the pier. They are old acquaintances and neighbors in the country. Per doesn't think being a grasshopper is so bad. He and his friend Stoffer throw themselves into the temptations of Oslo. The men are also accompanied by Ellen. Per and Ellen develop warm feelings for each other.

Werner is a private investigator. One day, the rich and attractive Stella Hvidsteen visits him in his weary office. She says that her sister Evy has disappeared, asks him to find her, and adds that her sister has red hair.

Albert and Herbert Hansen love each other, in the way that fathers and sons usually do. They argue and bicker, but they don't take it too seriously. If it weren't for one particular thing, they could have continued indefinitely as companions and friends. But in the distance, wedding bells are ringing.

Lieutenant Colonel Brusefjær, a highly regarded "administrative officer" from his time in London, is a man with a keen eye for everything that goes on around him, especially suspicious individuals. But now he wants to relax, and together with his grandson Lille-Bertram and his caretaker Ole Gliset, he mans the houseboat Caroline 11 and travels to Hankø. The police have just received alarming reports of widespread smuggling – probably based in the outer Oslo Fjord – and a trusted investigator, Reidar Nissen, is sent on vacation to Hankø.

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.