Justiina gives lessons to friends who are avoiding work and sends them to work. Pekka and Pätkä end up in a woodworking factory, where their job is to nail together the legs of a Christmas tree. The men think they will get rich this way, but through misadventures they end up in many different jobs and being chased by a crowd of admiring women.

Pekka is given the task of renting a summer place, but real estate agent Aadolf Muikku tricks him into buying a villa.

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.

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

Justina urges Pete and Runt to get a job. As a result they meet an orphan boy named Otto while working as a park nannies. They offer to shelter the boy, but at the same time the father Antti, who has returned from the sea, is looking for his son together with Miss Raikas.

Pete and Runt travel to Lapland to hunt the snowman in the hope of a cash reward, and take Justiina along as a bait.

Trade counselor Lillukka leaves his entire fortune to Pekka Puupää, who, thanks to cartoons and films, has become closer to him than his immediate family, who are pursuing their own interests. Pekka starts running a toy factory and hires a freckle-faced bowling boy as the company's errand boy. Widowed trade counselor Gunilla Lillukka tries to get married to Pätkä, who has been promoted to assistant director.

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.

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

Pekka and Pätkä work as inventors. Pätkä accidentally takes a photograph of bank robbers, who begin to track down the photographer. Soma Koivu, the former secretary of the property manager Kiivas, and police officer Antero Kangas help Pekka and Pätkä catch the robbers at a film studio where Pekka is working as a stand-in for Superman.

Justiina Puupää drives her husband Pekka and his friend Pätkä to look for work. The two decide to make money the easy way and try to have an accident after first getting accident insurance. After trying their luck, they hurt their heads and in the hospital, the comrades see each other's more outrageous antics.

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.

Pekka Puupää and Pätkä involuntarily end up in Suez as peacekeepers. After saving the Caliph's daughter Suleiman from kidnappers on two occasions, the Caliph magically reunites the friends with Justiina.