In the second volume of Tove Jansson's humorous yet melancholic Moomin
comic strip, we get four new stories about jealousy, competition, child
rearing, and self-reinvention. The Moomins try to hibernate in the
fashion of their ancestors but insomnia places them smack-dab into a
winter carnival with the winter-sports-loving Mr. Brisk. The fickle and
eternally lovestruck Mymble and Snorkmaiden find themselves in
competition over a thrilling new man. Moominmamma meets her new
neighbor, the Fillyjonk, causing her to hire the depressed and secretive
Misabel as her new maid. Mymble's mother arrives on the Moomin family's
doorstep with her seventeen new children. Finally, a prophet arrives on
the scene declaring that the happy Moomins are in fact not happy at all
and need to get back to nature and be free. Moomin, of course, becomes
more and more miserable the freer he gets.