The heart of the film is the Koppelo family. Worn out after a number of travels, but united and strong, this family is proud of their history. They have their share of misfortunes but never stop believing in themselves: We are not just any gang of vagabonds; we are part of world history! Members of the Koppelo family were once court tailors for Nicholas II of Russia. The Finnish family sewed all the beautiful wedding gowns and lace dresses familiar from photos of the Czar´s family. When the Russian revolution started, Sofia, one of the ancestresses of the family and Nicholas II´s last mistress, fled to Finland with her out-of-wedlock son, her sisters and their families. They crossed the frozen Gulf of Finland and ended up in Terijoki, a small town in the south-eastern Finland that now belongs to Russia.Accused of being Bolshevists, the family fled the Finnish Civil War to Europe. Years passed, and the family spread throughout the United States and Southern Europe. In 1970s, part of the family returned to Finland and settled in Pyhäselkä, Northern Karelia, in a house called Lotokka. The Matriarch begins when a thirty-year-old peaceful existence in Lotokka ends the family is evicted! Martta, the matriarch of the family, faces a big challenge. Her family has been through some rough times, and it is her responsibility to lead them to Lieksa, a town of dreams.The Koppelo family love, fight and make up fiercely. Martta´s sons are about to slip into the world of crime, and the situation is further complicated by a dumb young man who the family picks up on the road and whose identity is a mystery.Travelling in a caravan of cars, the Koppelo family sets up camp next to a lake, and Martta finally has time to take a break. But not for long, as evil is already on its way. Laszlo, the criminal and the black sheep of the family, suddenly arrives and notices Lara, Martta´s beautiful daughter who has grown into a beautiful young woman.