Traveling drapery salesman Mads Andersen-Skjern arrives in Korsbæk with his little boy Daniel and sees opportunities when faced with the inept draper Albert Arnesen and this small sleepy town where the old families define the pace and virtue. Receiving only haughty condescension from the upper-class, Mads finds local allies in the family of pig trader Oluf Larsen and his wife Kathrine, who has more money than meets the eye. Failing to secure a loan from local, third-generation banker Hans Christian Varnæs and his esteemed Korsbæk Bank, Mads borrows money both from his Jutland family and the Larsens, and he purchases a shop opposite "Damernes Magasin" (lit.: "the Ladies' Store"), Arnesen's store. Meanwhile, Hans Christian Varnæs' wife, the oversensitive Maude, throws lavish parties for the local socialites, including the 96-year-old Mrs. Fernando Møhge and her timid daughter Misse, the bombastic Colonel Hackel and his close friend, Doctor Louis Hansen, and Varnæs' playboy brother, Jørgen, who seeks a seat in the parliament.