Mathias grows up with wealthy, but distant, parents, first in Germany, then on the outskirts of Oslo. Among his peers he feels like an outsider, both mentally, intellectually, and sexually. In the winter of 1989 he meets Sven Åkerberg, a hackneyed Swedish poet whose golden days are behind him. For the first time he feels cared for and seen. When Mathias is encouraged by Sven to challenge conventionality, push his own limits, he grabs the opportunity. What could be better than to set out on your life’s journey when you finally feel like you are in good hands?

With sober language, V.S. Tideman shines a dark light at the boundaries of freedom and degradation, at the deviant and the abnormal, at survival and dissolution of the self.