Arvid Falk, an idealistic and generous young man, leaves his job to devote himself to militant literature. After many bitter experiences, he returns to his life as an employee and, without any illusions, he devotes his free time to numismatics. The figure of Arvid contrasts that of his brother, Carl Nicolaus, petty and hypocritical although with a background of true humanity. An extraordinarily incisive series of portraits of characters and environments from the Swedish society of the late nineteenth century complete the impressive narrative building of the novel: figures of bohemian life, journalists without conscience and without scruples, idle ladies, envious and vain engaged To beneficence, corrupt little women who feign love, uneducated and intriguing publishers, usurer merchants, and predatory clerics. And in the midst of environmental sordidness, The Red Room, a corner of a bar in Stockholm, becomes an allegory of man's salvation.