Allan and Lisa flee the war-torn city of Sweetwater with their young son for the safety of the municipal dump in this sleepy war drama. They join other displaced survivors who were driven from their homes. After Lisa gives birth to another child and Allan has a fling with the prostitute Mary Diamond, he trades Lisa for a gun. Allan leads a resistance group trying to retake their city who would rather fight and die than live in exile.
This is a tale that has an epic scope in scenery "the northern snow-covered lands of coastal Norway" and is dramatized by moments of tumultuous stormy weather. But the focus is on Heikki (Stein Bjorn) a young man who is inspired by the northern lights to take a horse-drawn sled and make his way to the sea, hoping to come back with abundant fish. He is overtaken by a snowstorm and is forced to find shelter in a small, isolated cabin that is home to a half-crazy widow, her baby, and a blind man. Driven to arson by her internal demons, the woman destroys the cabin. She and the blind man perish, but Heikki manages to save the baby. He is now faced with an even greater challenge as he holds the infant and looks in the direction of the coastline.
A meeting between the Swedish/French Simone and the Norwegian Stein at a book convention in Frankfurt turns into something more. They keep contact by phone and cassettes, but it seems they don't dare to take the relationship any further.
Someone has broken into their country summer house. This shakes up the parents. But Nina's fantasy is triggered, learning the break-in is done by an 11 year old boy, running away from home. With the code name Zeppelin, she learns him to know.
After a dramatic car chase, the two 16-year-old boys try to get off on foot. However, a policeman pulls his weapon and shoots one of the boys in the back. Based on actual events.
The three robbers Kasper, Jesper and Jonathan lives together with their always hungry lion in the little town of Kardemomme by, the home to a fair but kind police officer, and the strict Aunt Sofie.
