Kalle Magnus Berg is a kind bailiff in Gamla Stan (Old Town) in Stockholm. He helps out "clients" by supporting them with money from his own pocket. His neighbor is a jazz musician who plays at a restaurant for a living.
Two sailors, Lasse and Karl Gustav, float ashore after a shipwreck. Visiting a castle a baron ask them to help him lay his hands on an inheritance by Karl Gustav posing as the heir of the castle.
The film is about a group of artists in the Klara Quarter. Ararat, a poor painter in Stockholm, one day meet his ex-fiance Elisabeth who is now a rich widow.