Astrid Lindgren is shown growing up with her parents, brother, and two sisters in the countryside near Vimmerby Sweden on their farm, from age 16 up: going to church, attending dances, helping on the farm. She is offered an internship with the local newspaper after they publish her essay. She has an affair with the unhappily-married, older newspaper editor. When she becomes pregnant, he sends her to Stockholm for secretarial school. She gives birth in Denmark to help him avoid divorce complications and ultimately decides not to marry him. She falls out with her family over her decision to keep her child and not leave him with his foster mother. She continues to work as a secretary in Stockholm in an auto club and finally affords her own flat. When her boy finally comes to live with her, he is several years old. In the end, she reconciles with her family and they welcome their grandson home.