Arendal, 1885. The sailing ships are unloading goods in the harbor. The crystal chandeliers are polished. The townspeople are looking forward to the annual masquerade ball.

The wealthy heir Axel Herlofson has built an empire as a bank manager and ship owner and owns half of the businesses in the town. For the people of Arendal, he is the road to prosperity. His addiction to opium, gambling and younger men is not as well known.

The young accountant Thomas Berntzen sits in the bank manager’s neighboring office and is completely at his mercy. When he finds errors in the accounts, he becomes afraid of losing both his job and his true love. The only person he can share his worries with is Agnes Mercier. The elegant woman from Paris runs the dress salon in the city, but hides both her scandalous past and Axel’s debauchery. Then the web begins to unravel.

Old ideals fall for new ideas. The best families turn out to be the worst, and no one knows the truth about each other. Crash is a magnificent novel about love, betrayal and class struggle, based on the true story of the fraud that changed Norway.