12-year-old Ossi sees his grandpa dying from a cardiac arrest while working. That very moment Ossi decides not to end up the same way. After underachieving in elementary school and intentionally failing to get any higher education, Ossi ends up living with his parents. Fed up, his father forces him to get a job or he will throw Ossi out in the street. Trapped, Ossi finds a solution when he learns that he is entitled to unemployment benefits.
Ossi loves to be unemployed and free. He finds Kaisa, who doesn't judge him and they share a passion for literature. The happiness ends when Kaisa gets an internship in Paris, but Ossi can't join her, because he is forced to attend an absurd and demeaning course for the long-time unemployed. For fear of losing Kaisa, he decides to write a book about himself and his lifestyle.
The book gets published and Ossi is suddenly famous. At first it's great, but he ends up being hated by the entire nation. Everybody knows him, but nobody buys the book. The relationship goes sour with Kaisa and they break up. Ossi is now poor, despised and alone. He is struggling to write his next novel until he realizes what he needs to do to be happy again.
Ossi stops writing, goes back to being unemployed and fights to convince Kaisa to take him back.