A Summer by the River is a 1998 Finnish film written and directed by Markku Pölönen. The film is set in the 1950s Eastern Finland and tells the story of father Tenho (Pertti Koivula) and son Topi (Simo Kontio) after Tenho's wife Topi's mother dies and leaves the two men unable to pay rent. The two men move out of the family home and spend the summer working as lumberjacks in log driving, sleeping on the riverbank and growing closer together through the experience.