A Swedish drama from 1939 about the social and political developments in Sweden from 1885 until the dissolution of the union in 1905. The year is 1885, Christina Nilsson sings "Fourteen years I believe certain that I was" in the Grand Hotel's Great Hall . She also sings from the balcony of the hotel and the panic arising among listeners outside the hotel. In Norway, talks about the dissolution of the Union and the Swedish socialists with Hjalmar Branting (Victor Sjöström) is in the lead for independence.
Funfair worker Valdemar is unknowingly the illegitimate son of a rich landowner, colonel Von Brede. The colonel knows and employs Valdemar as his stable master. The colonel has a young and beautiful ward, Eva, but will she and Valdemar fall in love with each other?
Kalle and his girlfriend Blenda is on his way home from Tivoli, when he says that he will be away for two years as mate on a sailing ship, but swears her eternal fidelity. During the trip takes on board Bessie that has wrecked his vessel, the Donald withstand the temptation of a beautiful woman on board while Blenda waiting at home?
Ludvig and Sussi Battwyhl, Louis and Katja Brenner and Julia and Kurt Balzar are upper class millionaires. They don't seem to do any real work but still need a vacation in the mountains. Everybody seems to be romantically involved with everybody. A rich American woman joins them.
The maid Agnes lives a rather lonely and boring life.
Paradiset is a boarding house in the archipelago of Stockholm, run by the strict Elvira Pettersson, and with a large variety of guests. Her maid Lotta quits her job but when she leaves she accidentally forgets to turn off the iron. However, her brother Julle sneaks back one night to turn it off. When he is discovered, he tries to make them believe that he is the great Argentine opera singer Don Carlos they have been waiting for
Mr. Miller is the CEO of a big soap company whose son Henry like to spend his father's money but isn't interesting in working. Henry's laziness makes Mr. Miller upset and stressed out, so he assigns his young secretary (who the son also is in love with) to figure out a way to make Henry work and she will get 10,000 crowns ($1000). But things doesn't really to turn out the way Mr. Miller imagined.
Eva Bergh works as a bank clerk, but dreams of becoming an artist. At a party she meets the rich Harald Ribe and he instantly falls in love with her. When he proposes to marry her she has no work or place to live and she accepts. At Harald's estate she can live comfortably, but she misses her old friends.
Lena Bergström works in an office and is unhappily in love with her boss, Johan Borg. She decides to quit. Borg's wife won't have any children, and when she becomes pregnant she has an illegal abortion. For some reason, Lena's father believes that it is Lena who has had an abortion.
The orphan Alfred lives with two ladies in an idyllic cottage near a private golf course.
The Swedenhielms is an old aristocratic family. The head of the family is professor Rolf Swedenhielm. His three children Bo, Julia and Rolf Jr also live in the house. They also have an excellent house maid, Boman. Because of the family's extravagance, they are heading for bankruptcy. But perhaps their problems would be solved if Rolf was awarded the Nobel Prize?
Daniel has been forced by his father to become a priest. After graduating, he comes to a parish in Hälsingland. During one stormy night, he seduces a young girl, Karin, and rapes her. Filled with regret, he runs out into the dark night and is struck by lightning. He loses his memory and is taken to a distant hospital to recover. Meanwhile Karin gets pregnant and has a child. Eventually Daniel comes back and when he meets Karin his memory returns.
A police inspector tracks a notorious jewel thief, 'Diamond-Lasse,' to a hotel filled with eccentrics.
Jonas goes with a tremendous speed with his horse over a country road in Hälsingland. Because of this speed Birgit Ljusnar, who is along the road picking blueberries, falls. Jonas stops and helps her up. He gives Birgit two Swedish crowns for the pain and the suffering. Furthermore, he promises her a job on the farm.
Helga Breder is a young, spoiled girl. To her beloved Jörgen she says that she, as a modern young woman, is multi-talented and can do whatever she likes. Jörgen bets that she can't work as a house-maid but, if she manages it, he will buy her a diamond ring. Helga becomes a house-maid at Vinger Mansion and falls in love with an inventor, Bertil Frigård, who lives there.