Familien Christensen

An old man tells about the time when he was a child. His name is Johan, and together with his family he moved from Copenhagen to a provincial town around the year 1900. It was difficult, because he was teased by the local boys, and his father was unemployed and drank too much. So sometimes Johan had to work all night with his mother to afford food.

Johan finds it difficult to change schools, but gradually he learns to fight, and then things get better. The angry teachers cane, but there are also a few who are nice. Johan's father becomes vicious when he drinks - and he does so often. At the age of ten, Johan gets a job in a factory - that's what children were allowed to do in the old days.

Johan thinks being a child is hard. But even though people are mean to each other, they also help each other. When the police want to arrest Lange Lotte, who is a prostitute, the neighbors in the street help her. And then there is a huge fight.