It is her job to take care of the correct labelling of matchboxes. Iris (Kati Outinen) is a person who lives in the shadows, no one notices her. At home, she is bullied by her mother and stepfather. As she escapes for once, goes out to dance and spends the night with a man, she unintentionally falls pregnant. However, her lover rejects her and pushes her to get an abortion. Iris starts a revenge campaign with rat poison from the pharmacy. „The Match Factory Girl“ is the finale of Kaurismäki’s „proletarian trilogy“ (with „Shadows in Paradise“ and „Ariel“). With lots of dark humour, Kaurismäki watches his lost protagonist in a combination of morality play and wicked fairytale.