Set in North Karelia, whne Antti Ihalainen's house runs out of matches, he goes to borrow some from a neighbor. On the road, he meets a rich widower, Jussi Vatanen, who asks Ihalai to be his speaker and friend on an engagement trip to the city of Jo. The hosts from Lieper are snorting drunkenly from behind their shoulders.
Lecturer Aarre is dating Emmi, a saleswoman at a fabric store. The small-town social circles do not approve of relationships that cross class boundaries, and neither do Emmi's mother and her brother Erkki, who works at the factory.
Astrid, the mistress of Metsäkulma, hires a job seeker named Aaltonen as a farm manager when her mentally ill husband Alfred is unable to work. Old Hermanni helps Astrid and Aaltonen as best he can, but jealous Alfred begins to persecute them.
