Esa Pakarinen

An idle work crew is ordered to go and heat up an abandoned house before it is demolished. A road sign pointing in the wrong direction leads them astray, and the men end up at an empty hotel, where they begin a program of evening entertainment led by Severi Suhonen.

Traveler Severi travels to Helsinki to enjoy some culture, where he meets Sinikka and Simo, who run a buying and selling business. At a customs auction, he buys a painting that businessman Kehveli and his assistants also have their eyes on.

Pekka Puupää and Pätkä, who return to Helsinki from an unsuccessful variety show tour, are forced into refresher training, where they are trained as frogmen. During the diving exercises, the friends encounter the mermaid Helmi, whom they help into the bathtub at home, to Justiina's shock. The friends, who have become civilians, eventually end up on a plane bound for Suez, being cornered by UN soldiers.

Justiina pushes Pekka and Pätkä to take painting lessons after realizing that art can be a way to earn a living. With the help of the yard children, a painting is created that wins first prize at a contemporary art exhibition. In the meantime, the men, along with their assistant Miss Kaihokielo, have been charged with art theft. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, the Puupääs use the art prize money to convert the house's bomb shelter into a children's clubroom.

After a robbery, a gang of bandits led by Kulaus-Ramperi flees Helsinki on the Kuopio express train "Lentävä kalakukko" and tries to hide in the crowded train filled with music and singing. The cheerful conductor Saastamoinen protects the motley crew traveling on the train.

Pete and Runt set up a kindergarten at their home, and unknowingly end up taking care of a kidnapped baby.

Pete and Runt misinterpret the messages of a career choice machine and try to create a career as African dancers.

At Justiina's insistence, Pekka and Pätkä are looking for work again and end up starting a detective agency. The first assignment takes the duo on a cruise on Lake Saimaa. Traveling on the same ship are representative Johannes Kulo and his daughter Maija, as well as the lumberjack Jussi, who gets caught up in the duo's misadventures.