Episode list

After four years as a sailor at various ships all around the world Per Löfgren returns to his parents and the little village where he grew up. On the surface the village looks much the same, but Per notices that underneath a sweeping alteration is on its way. An official from the agriculture committee tries to convince the small-scale farmers to sell their estates. The village shop-keeper is on the brink of closing his shop.

While visiting the Dahl family Per Löfgren discovers that his old schoolmate Karin Dahl is confined to a wheel-chair after a car accident. Per frequently visits another old schoolmate, Willy Strid, and becomes a witness of the harsh quarrels between Willy and his wife Lena. Per's sister, Ingrid Löfgren, has a clandestine liaison with Karin's brother, Mattias Dahl.

Two officials, one from the agriculture committee and one from the county employment board, try to persuade the small-scale farmers to sell their estates, as the government won't support these farmers with capital any more. They also try to persuade the large-scale farmer Berndt Andersson to buy Evert Persson's small estate, which engenders a conflict between the two neighbours.

Many of the villagers have love-problems. The marriage between Willy and Lena Strid is in crisis, and the marriage between Mattias and Elisabeth Dahl is even worse. Mattias has a love-affair with Ingrid Löfgren, while his son, Lars-Erik Dahl, is emotionally and sexually frustrated by not finding any woman to love. The teen-agers Lennart Andersson and Eva Persson fall in love, but their first attempt at having sex doesn't work.

When the love-affair between Mattias Dahl and Ingrid Löfgren becomes the talk of the village, Ingrid breaks off the liaison. Her daughter Gunilla arrives from Stockholm to spend her summer vacation in the village, but she leaves again after only two days, finding life in the countryside too boring. Ingrid takes an overdose of sleeping pills and is brought to a mental hospital. The large-scale farmer Berndt Andersson marries his fiancée Lillemor. During the wedding dinner the small-scale farmer Evert Persson puts a damper on the jollity by announcing that he has to sell his farm.

Evert Persson sells his farm, cattle and implements by auction. The dwelling-house is bought by a young couple, Björn and Lotta Mohlin, who converts it into a summer house. The Persson family moves to a modern apartment in one of the new, big suburbs outside Gothenburg. Per Löfgren announces that he too will leave the village soon, going back to the sea as a sailor.