Young and innocent maid Elina is persuaded into forgetting her childhood sweetheart Uolevi, and to marry Klaus Kurki, a local nobleman with money and influence. An ideal match according to her family and the greedy parish priest, but all is not as it seems: Kurki is a vicious man, tormented by the spirit of his last wife.

The new idealistic welfare officer Helmi tries to improve conditions in "Sin Alley," but difficulties arise, particularly with the leader of the petty criminals, Jukka, whose son Reino also drifts into a life of crime.

It is the year 1915, and five Finnish men ski to Sweden via the Gulf of Bothnia to get military training in Germany. Among the men are Martti and Kalpa from the 27th Army Ranger Battalion. In the reserve, the troops spend their free time in a café called the Golden Anchor, owned by Sonja Strand. Sonja's captain serves in the Russian army, and Sonja has a relationship with Baron von Lichtenstein, w...

Poor high school students Toivo Päiviö and Unto Uramo solve their housing problems by enrolling in Sofia Andersson's boarding school. Toivo falls in love with Mrs. Andersson's deceased husband's niece, Aune, and begins to compete for her attention with opera singer Reino "Toreadoor" Kiljunen.