The old Victor Branzell has a grandson, Alf, who is in love with a clerk in a glove shop, Lilian Lind. But Lilian with her simple background doesn't get accepted in the circles where Alf belongs, and they have now reached the conclusion that they can't have a future together. Marriage is impossible. Victor summons Lilian and Alf and starts telling them his life story.

Eva Örn is a newly graduated teacher, who becomes a school teacher in rural Vikarlunda. She is a beautiful young woman with firm opinions and she does not live up to the locals' picture of the ideal female teacher. She has an affair with the pastor, Ingvar Hagson, but they have to keep their love a secret.