Inhabitants of a flophouse struggle to survive under the harsh treatment imposed by the landlord, Kostyleva. One resident, young thief Wasska Pepel, ends his affair with the landlord’s wife, Vassilissa, and takes up with her sister, Natacha. Pepel also befriends the baron, a former nobleman fallen on hard times, but Pepel’s attempts at happiness are complicated when he’s accused of murder by a spiteful Vassilissa.

When investment banker Linda Bachmann and her team arrive at Lord and Lady Macintosh’s country estate, the signs are not good for a relaxing weekend in Scotland: the annual balance sheet is lousy, colleagues are suspicious of themselves and their boss, and it works the rumor that soon a compliance employee will restructure the team. To top it all off, the property is not very comfortable, cook Helen’s skills cannot hide that, and the methods of the young seminar leader Rebecca also seem rather questionable. When first the Lord’s favorite peacock and then the Lady’s favorite goose disappear, further arguments and chaos are inevitable. And finally it starts to snow…

Ireland, 1845 on the eve of The Great Hunger. Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman, a father, a husband, takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. Patsy, a former soldier in the Napoleonic wars arrives just ahead of ‘the blight,’ a disease that eventually wipes out the country’s potato crop, contributing to the death and displacement of millions. As the crops rot in the fields, Colmán, his brother and Patsy travel to the English Landlord’s house to request a stay on rent increases that Colmán predicts will destroy his community. His request falls deaf ears and Patsy’s subsequent actions set Colmán on a path that will take him to the edge of survival, and sanity. It is only upon encountering an abandoned young girl that Colmán’s resolve is lifted. Just in time for the darkness of his past to pay another visit.

After the death of his father, young Carabas leaves home to seek his fortune with the evil landlord’s cat. To his amazement, the cat actually speaks to him and devises a plan to help him get rich. First, the cat must wear Carabas’ boots.