The early 1990s: 300,000 Danes are out of work. Viggo, a machinist with two grown children, is silent about feelings, scared he'll lose his job, loud about the value of trade unionism, interested in his pet fish, and argumentative at dinner. His wife Oda puts up with his moods and works on family genealogy. When Viggo is laid off, he becomes a fish out of water, hardly looking for work, starting a garden, and taking up with Karen, a polished but unhappy widow. He lies to his wife about a union training and goes to Mallorca with Karen. When she stops the affair, Viggo ends up in a psychiatric ward and must figure out what's really important in his life and in his character
A man has been in prison for sixteen years after killing of his wife. Now he seeks to create a new life, where he only finds warmth and fellowship with Turkish immigrants. He will also try to come to terms with the daughter who hates him. Denmark's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986.
