Rolf lived his whole life for his TV-show. He's neglected the people close to him year after year; he never seemed to have any time left over for his wife, his kids or his friends. One day Rolf learns that the TV-network that he so devotedly worked for is now aiming for a younger audience and his show is terminated. His life crumbles. Suddenly he finds himself contacting friends and relatives he left behind a long time ago and the people Rolf meet lead him to events that forever changes his life.
When the old University Professor discovers that some of his pupils often sneak into a speakeasy, The Blue Angel, to visit a dancer, Lola, he comes there to confront them. But instead he is attracted to Lola. He returns the next night to The Blue Angel to spend time with Lola and stays overnight. This causes problems at his work and his life takes a steep downward spiral.
Summer of 1959. 11-year old Osvald spend his summer holiday with his parents in the countryside of Södermanland. His father has promised to play soccer with him and get some exercise. He also promised the locals to teach the church choir an Argentine mass. The father has a slight alcohol problem, so will he be able to do it?
Harry Lund is having a bad day. First he gets fired. And then loses his entire fortune at an illegal gambling club. On his way out, he is assaulted and drugged by unknown men, and wakes up in a car with another man. A very dead man. A very murdered man. And Harry's penknife sticks out of his body. Harry flees in panic to Stockholm. And now not only the bad guys are close on his heels - but also the police...
Criminal detective Roland Hassel and his colleague Bolinder is investigating a criminal gang involved in the meat packing business. Bolinder is murdered in front of Hassel and the criminals are out to kill Hassel, the only witness.
Harry Friberg photographs a mysterious lightning in the water outside the Blockhusudden. The light turns out to flow over a murder.
The famous Swedish Karoliner army has suffered its biggest defeat ever at Poltava in 1709. The Swedish king Karl XII is waiting in the small village of Bender for the Turkish sulton to help him defeat his arch enemy, the czar of Russia, Peter the Great. But the Turks think he's an expensive guest and want him out of Turkey. However, he refuses. The sultan then decides to send Karl XII a princess to marry him, to get him out of the country (a bride for a bribe). The two Swedish soldiers Lagercrona and Kruus are to escort the princess. They experience many different adventures on their way to Bender, namely because other Swedish soldiers and agents try to stop them from ever reaching the village, because they don't want Karl XII to leave Turkey. After their long adventure to get there and a few misunderstandings, the famous "kalabalik" of Bender, where the Turks decide to drive Karl XII out of Turkey by force, begins.
The Swedish 19th century engineer Salomon August Andrée sets out to become the first man on the north pole. His idea is to launch a polar expedition using a hydrogen balloon, together with two friends. The balloon, "The Eagle", takes off from Svalbard in 1897, but the three men are not heard of again.
This farce cocerns Sweden's King Gustav (Per Oscarsson who plays all the lead roles). The royal monarchs of three major European countries are patiently or not-so-patiently hovering on the sidelines while watching the future King Gustav closely. No single king appears to possess the brains he was born with, so history seems to be made by default, as it were. Gustav does blunder around, but not enough to miss being crowned king. As a result, France, England, and Germany invade Sweden hoping to take by force what they could not gain by incompetence.