The fairy Illusia and the goblin Pessi meet. Pessi, who has only recently become independent, is a member of the Pessimists' family. They are proud of their practical and sensible attitude to life. Illusia's father, on the other hand, is Mr Illusioni, a famous visionary living on a rainbow.
In 17th-century Pohjola, young Antti Puuhaara is looking for himself, because he has grown up with no knowledge of his childhood. Two actors, the tragedian and the comedian, who were banished from Tsarist Russia to Karelia, had predicted to the crooked merchant Markki Bohattov that Antti's fate would become intertwined with his own. When Antti falls in love with Bohattov's daughter Darja, the father has to arrange for her to marry the tar merchant Arho Mustahatu.
