Ivar Lo-Johansson is interviewed and talks about life as a state worker and about his upbringing in Ösmo. Tells about the struggle in care for the elderly and about the life of the Roma in Sweden.
Raja, the son of a rich man who was cheated of his wealth by Jambu, grows up in an orphanage. He becomes a famous poet in the city with the help of Jambu's family, unaware of his past.
Albert, a cheeky, womanising, door-to door salesman, with a never-take-no-for-an-answer attitude, lives his life for the moment, and with no thought of his future, or the consequences of his actions on the people he encounters.
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual.
Thomas Crimmins is a new warder, or guard, in an Irish prison. He is young, naive, and idealistic, determined to serve his country by his part in meting out justice to criminals.