He is a deacon who works in a church in Oslo, providing pastoral care to members of the congregation: emotional and spiritual support when life gets rough. He never believed in God, but he chose this profession because he wants to be a fellow human being, and because it gives him the opportunity to meet people in everyday life.

Through an acquaintance, he meets a man whom he is both attracted to and slightly repelled by. The conversation between them takes a turn he does not like, away from the everyday and into the existential. Initially, he wanted to have sex with the man, perhaps even develop a relationship, but now that the conversation has taken on the character of pastoral care, he feels as if he is in danger of exploiting his role as a deacon and thus violating professional ethics.

Pastoral Care is a seemingly quiet yet intensely penetrating novel that raises questions about faith and how desire and attraction should be balanced against the need to take responsibility and care for others.