Arno Jurmala is an appreciated nickel tycoon. He has an elegant wife and he owns a huge nickel factory somewhere in Northern Finland. When he is celebrating his birthday in the late 1930s, the guest list consists of significant people from different countries all over the world. What they don't know is that behind the neat facade Jurmala is a ruthless man without any morals or virtues. He can do anything to make more money. Without hesitating he kills his worst competitors and all his employees who have let him disappointed. And when the Second World War begins, he trades with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union - depending on who is winning at the moment. He also mishandles his wife, unable to have children, which has driven her to become a drug-addict.