The unreal optimism that characterized the first months of the new millennium is replaced by fear and threats after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the US invasion of Afghanistan and the world is dramatically destabilized. At the same time, big changes play out in the life of the author. After many years of childlessness, he becomes a father, a role that will bring new perspectives into his work as an artist. The family moves to Nordstrand where the author spent the first years of his life. He loses his close friend and collaborator Erik Bye, and learns that another friend is in great peril. The financial crisis is starting to happen, the stock markets collapse and Iceland goes bankrupt. Bjørnstad senses that there is something gravely wrong with himself, and faces new challenges when he must submit his parents to a nursing home.