Carl Deurell

Elin Tarp is an unmarried mother with three children who lives a hard life in the countryside.

The station-master Fabian Bom is a very meticulous person, and he makes sure that the trains leaves exactly - on the second. To him, nothing could be more important than duty, efficiency and punctuality, in fact, his sense of duty is clearly perverted. His beloved Plum-Plum, the major's daughter, is infatuated with army officers. To regain her attention, he joins the infantry. Bom becomes a soldier who loves the military training, long marches as well as hard labour as punishment. He meets Agnes, who falls madly in love with him.

Kjell Loväng returns to his parent's farm after a few years of work in Stockholm. He discovers that his father Arvid neglects the farm and spends too much time drinking and meeting other women. Kjell has to prove to his father his ability to manage the farm.

Bad harvests and starvation makes northern Swedish farmers consider emigrating to the USA.

Maria has been fired from her job as a householder with a family in a small town in Sweden. She leaves in anger for Stockholm, aiming for a career as an actress.

The north of Sweden in 1902. A team of railroad men are building a rail road from Luleå at the Bay of Bothnia to Narvik at the Norwegian Sea. One of the newest workers, Valfrid from the south of Sweden, is not accepted by neither Stora Ballong, the informal leader of the workers, nor the others. They refuse to talk to him but instead Valfrid gets help from the sworn enemy of the railroad workers: the greedy drugstore owner Blom.

Translator Vilhelm and his young wife have a child, as well as a grumpy housemaid who doesn't hesitate to give her opinion on how they behave as parents. In secret Kristin arranges a scholarship for Vilhelm so he can go back to his medical studies.

Carsten Berg returns home after 15 years abroad. He gets into a fight with his father, who dies of a heart attack. Carsten must take over his fathers business. He is informed that he is suffering from an incurable disease.

Hanna lives in a small village in Småland together with her parents. She is the most beautiful girl around and has a lot of admirers.

The ups and downs of three generations in an acting family.