A film about unemployment with a happy ending.

Ilona loses her job at the restaurant Dubrovnik, the best restaurant in town (or at least it was right after the war). Lauri, her husband, draws the lowest card when four out of eight tramway-drivers have to be fired. They see no reason to worry, after all they are both well under fifty.

A few months later Melartin, the former porter of the Dubrovnik, proposes to Ilona that they should open their own restaurant. Since they cannot prove to the bank that they do not really need a loan their request is turned down. Ilona empties her savings account and Lauri takes the money to the casino to multiply it.

You will laugh a lot. “Drifting Clouds” is dedicated to Matti Pellonpää.

Aki Kaurismäki won the PÖFF Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.