The introverted girl is visiting her grandparents in a small town in the late sixties. She mostly spends her time with the adults in the house – the grandfather, whom she is not afraid of, despite his short temper and angry stomping, the grandmother, who fears the draught of cool air and prefers staying indoors, playing solitaire, the young and spoiled aunt, who spends most of her time in Havn visiting her godfather, and the godmother, who has worked as a maid in the house for as long as anyone can remember.

The girl tries to understand the things that the adults say and do, as well as the things that they don’t say and do.

Why do the grandfather and grandmother sleep in separate bedrooms?

What is the story with the minister’s Danish wife with asphalt in her veins?

Why does the aunt receive a lot of money from the godfather?

Why did the grandfather and aunt go to the big lake after the grandmother had gone to bed?

And will the godmother actually elope with the man from the Northern islands, who wants to bring her with him to the darkness of the north?