Shtisel

Akiva Shtisel is a 26-year-old, single Haredi man who lives with his father, Shulem Shtisel, a widower. Akiva starts working as a teacher in a cheder, and falls in love with Elisheva Rotstein, the mother of a student in his class, who has been widowed twice. He asks the matchmaker Königsberg to set up a meeting for them, much to the chagrin of his father, who wants Akiva to wed a never-married young woman. Elisheva and Akiva meet once at the insistence of Akiva, and she refuses to continue. Shulem urges Akiva to meet with 19-year-old Esti Gottlieb. On their second meeting, Akiva, still in love with Elisheva says he is not yet ready for marriage, and Esti starts to cry. Faced with guilt, Akiva proposes marriage to Esti, and they get engaged.

Giti Weiss, the daughter and the sister of the Shtisels, says goodbye to her husband Lippe Weiss, who flies to Argentina for six months as part of his job as a butcher. Lippe's boss tells Giti that he ran away with a gentile. Giti is disgraced and looks for work to provide for her 5 children. She works as a babysitter for a secular woman and then exchanges money at home. Though she still loves him, she confesses the hardship her husband has put them through to her eldest daughter Ruchami, who grows resentful of Lippe. Later feeling guilty, he decides to return home and struggles to find forgiveness from Ruchami.

Zvi Arye, the brother of Giti and Akiva, is competing for a teaching job at the kolel, where he studies hard but doesn't get the job. Zvi Arye's wife calls him away from the kolel to trap a mouse.

Grandmother Malka, Shulem's mother, lives in a nursing home and is exposed to television for the first time in her life, which Zvi Arye and Shulem find abhorrent and come up with many ways to sabotage her from viewing.

Akiva finds a job as a painter. He paints for Leib Fuchs, a well-known Haredi artist. Their agreement consists of Akiva painting for him, and Fuchs selling the paintings as if they were his own.

Shulem has a relationship (he eats her cooking at the cheder and in her home) with Aliza, a divorced Haredi who is the secretary at his cheder. However, his refusal to clarify his intentions with her motivates her to look elsewhere.

Akiva, still harboring doubt about his engagement, consults with his maternal uncle, Sucher, who cancelled a match and has remained single all his life. His uncle tells Akiva to ask Elisheva if she loves him. In an emotional conversation, she tells him that she is too old for him and refuses him once more. Despite this he informs Esti's father that he does not love Esti, and Esti's father angrily cancels the engagement. The enraged Shulem expels Kiva from his home. Kiva sleeps in different places, until Shulem and Akiva reconcile.

Akiva continues to contact Elisheva, and ultimately she does admit to loving him. Shulem helps them to become engaged, but Akiva ultimately chooses to call off the marriage himself after Elisheva tries to convince him to immediately move with her to England, and he realises they have very different priorities in life.

Suddenly the family is confronted with a crisis as Malka Shtisel suffers an accident by falling down a staircase. She incurs a serious life-threatening head injury, becoming unconscious and being admitted to the ICU. Concerned she might die, the family comes together to support her.