The movie takes place on Oslo's east side sometime during the twenties. It depicts the workers' environment by traditional elements like unemployment, strike, poverty, alcoholism, absent fathers, wise and tired mothers, the dream of a better life and the friendship between the boys in the street.

Werner is a private investigator. One day, the rich and attractive Stella Hvidsteen visits him in his weary office. She says that her sister Evy has disappeared, asks him to find her, and adds that her sister has red hair.

Imber has a child with the dubious fiancé Erland. He is destructive and his unhealthy lifestyle subjects his family to starvation and the death of their child. Imber falls in love with Arne and a settlement between Arne and Erland unfolds.

Having gone through many personal struggles, Eli (Lil Terselius) returns to her native village and begins to work on the farm of Ingeborg Eriksdotter (Anita Bjork), eventually tending a plot that once belonged to her family. But Eli has been gone a long time, and the opaque villagers see her as an outsider—she is suspicious from the start. The year is 1625, and stories of witches conjuring up evil are a part of the daily culture. Eli unwittingly makes matters worse for herself when she is able to cure the sick with herbs, and when she begins an affair with Aslak (Bjoern Skagestad) a farmhand—clearly she must have cast a spell on him. This all adds up to a witch hunt with a ready-made "witch." Eli, in the end, is officially accused of witchcraft by a devious bailiff, while Ingeborg makes every attempt to save her, and Aslak himself does not survive the stress—hardly a good omen for the outcome of the trial.

A six year old boy runs away from home with the family's big dog, a St. Berhard, who the grown ups wants to put down.

Student Tom Polden lives in difficult conditions at home. His mother lives constantly on the memories of her deceased husband. Her little hat shop is rather poor and the economy is peal. Tom constantly hear about the magnificent father, and becomes a big blow when he overhears his father shot himself because he had embezzled a substantial amount of money.