An artist bases a painting for a revealing lingerie ad on a photo of a girl he had found torn from a magazine, not knowing that the girl is in fact the daughter of the Finnish minister of finance. A scandal is about to erupt, and the artist is given 48 hours to find a strikingly similar-looking female model who could serve as his alibi. The minister's daughter decides to fool the artist by pretending to be a lowly girl of the streets, whom the artist then recruits as his "model".
A young heiress settles into a holiday hotel in search of a suitable husband. There are enough groom candidates, some gentlemen, and some cheaters. All that is certain is that the misfortunes will not end.
St.Petersburg, 1830. An arrogant Finnish baron is playing cards with a Russian officer. Needless to say, the Finn wins and the Russian gets extremely annoyed. The situation is not helped by the fact that the baron has been seeing a girl that the Russian officer has also set his eyes on. They decide to have a duel and after the Finn wins fair and square, he has to escape because the untrustworthy Russians are after him.
Perky student Inkeri 'Iiri' Paappanen and businessman Taavi Takkulainen fall in love during a boat trip, but a misunderstanding at a hotel in Stockholm causes their break-up. Returning to Finland, Inkeri applies to become a governess and gets a job at Taavi's parents' family. Consul General Albert, Taavi's brother intends to take advantage of Iiri in his political endeavors.
In 1916, Finland is still a part of Russian Empire. Eugen Schauman murders the governor of Finland, and his fellow activists take on smaller tasks in the fight for freedom.
Esko makes a bet that he will marry the first young woman he encounters. This turns out to be Kirsti, who promptly turns down the proposals. But when she finds about the bet, she agrees to marry him in order to get her revenge.
