 Gurin the gnome loves to play tricks on others. In spite of several warnings he just can t help himself, and one morning he wakes up with a foxtail as punishment. Rumors of his fabulous tail soon reach the capital, and the widow Stengelføhn-Glad tries to hire private detective Solan Gundersen to find Gurin. She wants to be the envy of her upper-class friends by owning the luxurious foxtail. But Solan and his sidekick Ludvig doesn t want to see Gurin come to harm. And after refusing the assignment they set out to find the gnome before the widow does.