After being fired as barbers, Bernt and Nils get jobs working for an employee at a large department store. They become embroiled in the rivalry between two bosses, Ålberg and Hagen, who are both competing for a prize of 5,000 kroner for the best act at the company's autumn fair. Ålberg has no scruples and resorts to both cheating and kidnapping.
In beautiful Telemark, a young boy grows up on a rich farm. To his fathers dislike, he wants to be a fiddle player, just like the son at the poorer neighboring farm. One day the father is found dead.
Young student Steffen Berg finds it difficult to adapt to society's laws and rules. After dropping out of medical school, he starts working in a shop to support his family, together with his brother Jørgen and sister Gerda, and to keep his mother out of a nursing home. One of Steffen's friends is going to America with his wife and needs money. Steffen takes 500 kroner from the store's cash register. The next day, there is an audit and Steffen's theft is discovered.
