Cecilia is in hospital after being subjected to an attempt on her life. Her husband is called to the hospital. Cecilia deliriously mentions a mutual friend. The husband seeks out the friend.

Krister and his fiancé Brita return to Stockholm after a stay in Italy. Shortly upon their return Krister learns that all his assets left to him by his father has disappeared. Together with Brita he tries to obtain justice in a aristocratic and corrupt legal system.

Four Swedish volunteer soldiers are trapped in Russia. In front of them lies the front with enemy outposts and patrols, behind them the enemy minefields. Hope to return to their own lines decreases each day. Corpses of fallen, "dead of cold and hard as iron", forms the macabre landmarks in the winter landscape. Nearby is a burnt Russian village.

A high school in a small city. Torben and Ninni are deeply infatuated with each other but their parents dislike the pair seeing each other. After graduation Torben joins the army and when Ninni discovers that she is pregnant her parents send her to a farm in Denmark to bear her child.