Karl and Kristina Nilsson work on a farm in a cold and desolate area of 19th century rural Sweden. Growing privations, combined with increasing social and religious persecution, motivate the Nilssons and many of their neighbors to strike out for the United States. Following a treacherous ocean crossing and an equally grueling land passage, the emigrants find themselves in seemingly idyllic Minnesota.
It's a hot summer day in Näsviken, a small northern community on the verge of extinction, in structural change Sweden. The summer tourists gives some extra income but ironmonger Berglund can not keep the range of temporary guests require. Bud, whose wife Minni sunk into alcoholism due to her man's lack of interest. Bud consoles himself with a strong, viable woman with uncomplicated erotic habits.
After 15 years of marriage, David and Marianne have grown apart. David has had an affair with a patient of his and Marianne has got herself involved with her former lover Carl-Adam, who's also David's best friend. When she travels to Copenhagen to meet Carl-Adam, David takes the same train as she does, making it look coincidental. Spending time together remembering their past and talking about their future, they come to understand each other again, which leads to a reconciliation.
Monika from Stockholm falls in love with Harry, a young man on holiday. When she becomes pregnant they are forced into a marriage, which begins to fall apart soon after they take up residence in a cramped little flat.
Orvar is a vagabond, walking the country roads and living on sunshine and generosity. One day he decides to find work somewhere to get some money. He becomes a helping hand for seven lumberjack brothers. The big and strong brothers really enjoy themselves, joking with the small and meek Orvar. Orvar does not know that he has inherited a large fortune but the seven brothers do and they begin to treat him with the greatest courtesy. They convince him to write his last will, making them his heirs, and then begin to make plans on how to kill him.
The actor Philip has an accident on the way to his own wedding and the shock makes him lose his voice.
The tailor Tosse is ordered to return to his old regiment to practice what he learned many years ago. But he asks his assistant Loffe to go there instead of himself. Everything is fine until Loffe gets the same order - at the same regiment. When Tosse comes to the regiment, it becomes a case of mistaken identity. Due to the confusion, Loffe is now Tosse's platoon commander. Plot by Mattias Thuresson.