A TV reporter is murdered when he is eavesdropping on a secret Finnish-Soviet conference. The National Broadcasting Corporation enlists the help of police lieutenant Palmu, who comes out of retirement for this case. However, some have their doubts about the loyalities of Palmu, seeing that he was spotted in a diplomatic soiree in Moscow just a few weeks before the murder.
Täällä Pohjantähden alla is based on the book with the same title. It is a story of the little village. The movie starts in the 1890's and it ends to the Finnish civil war in 1918. Story concentrates around a tenant farmer family, although it gives us a good look at the society at whole. While the class struggle depends, people of the village are driven to bloody civil war.
Grandmother Helena Junkkeri is working on a farm that her widowed son Arttu is unable to take on. Taina Raitalo who arrives at the house as a childminder makes the grieving man smile again, and Artu's little sister Päivi in turn delights the entire Junkkeri family with her achievements.
Baron Metter is threatening to evict a crofter family from their home. Lauri Vaara a student passing by, falls in love with Marja the family's daughter, and promises to help save their home. Baroness Olivia Metter falls for the young student and helps him with the rescue plan.
In the early 1800s, Finnish governor's daughter first detests but soon falls in love with Russian Czar Alexander I who has just taken Finland over from Sweden's rule.
1892. Vappu Biörcke and Kaarlo Härkönen get to know each other during the summer in the countryside at the birthday of Vappu Jalle-sedä. In Helsinki, the young people continue their courtship under the supervision of Vapu's aunt, Moster Mella. However, Vapu's father, business advisor Ossian Biörcke, is not as accepting when his daughter's actions begin to be revealed.
The boyish, temperamental chemistry student Elsa Kassel disapproves of her mother and sisters running after men, but when she hears that she's referred to as "ugly Elsa", she takes on a transformation. The new, charming Elsa tests her attractiveness on men and causes confusion all the way to her mother's new groom, Professor Harjula.