The year 1808. After a conflict with her mother the 12-year-old Jossi flees home. With nowhere to go she improves her conditions by dressing as a boy. She meets a charming man who takes her as his protege. The man is none other than the famous master thief Lasse-Maja.

Åke and his world is a long, lyrical study of a Swedish country doctor of the 1930s. Åke is the doctor's six-year-old son, from whose point of view the film is told. His best friend is Kalle Nubb. Åke is very frightened of the janitor Bergström as well as the lunatic Anne-Marie.