At the age of 50, and at the pinnacle of his career, the legendary editor John Richard Norman has had his fill of novels he thinks are all the same. He suddenly finds himself throwing up every time he reads a manuscript. Therefore, Norman takes a sabbatical, going to live in a house on the furthest end of the island, Stjerneøy. Here he discovers nature, and enjoys days of leisure without books and reading – and finds love with the beautiful and thrilling, Ingrid Kyrklund. But then his lust for literature is re-awakened…