
Loviisa Niskavuori

Ilona Niskavuori

Juhani Mattila / Juhani Niskavuori

Paavo Niskavuori
Lilli Niskavuori
Telefooni-Sandra

Martta Santala

Dr. Artturi Santala

Kaarle Niskavuori
Salminen

Jokinen
Miina

At the end of August, a young woman is chased by an angry mob of hooligans under the windows of a bus because she decides to tear down a poster grossly insulting her husband, the staunch communist and deputy Balcar. She only gets a defence from the prosecutor Ronešová, who decides to convict and prosecute the perpetrators and bystanders of the unfortunate event. The principled Ronešová is oblivious to personal problems and sets out to fight against the relics of a happily extinguished social movement, with the right-wing defence lawyer Kahan being no match for her.

With the help of his assistant Anja, Ottocaro Weiss intends to put the plague on stage: circumstances beyond his control and a lack of fresh talent have forced him to close down his flea circus. For Weiss, the plague means the «extinction of everything that makes life miserable and low and freedom along with it. Unbeknownst to him, he has won the support of a patron who is of the exact opposite opinion: for Johannes Wagner, the plague is an organising principle, and, aided by his agent Moosbrugger, he is able to smuggle a new number onto the programme. Whereas Ottocaro Weiss means to represent the plague theatrically, what appears on stage is the scientific reality of the rat-borne infestation.
An alcoholic tries to rob an intellectual and suddenly recognises him as his childhood friend. They recall their childhood mischief and their glorious time, which was at the beginning of the First World War, which was at first somewhere far away, but its threatening echo was coming closer every day. In their childhood they dreamed of reaching the very edge of the world, which they thought was in Istanbul. The alcoholic takes the professor to a restaurant, and there their dreams come true. The intellectual got to Istanbul (the name of the restaurant), and the alkie was able to get drunk with his mate's money.

At a tennis club in rural Germany, preparations for the summer party are led by Heribert. When a separate grill is suggested for Erol, the club's only Muslim member, tensions flare. What begins as a simple discussion quickly turns into a debate about societal and personal conflicts, threatening to tear the club apart.