Set in 1962, during the Berlin crisis, the film kicks off with the flighty Carmen and her kid brother Adrian, whom she calls Babyface, living blissfully happy lives. Father is a ceramist, Mom a generous, life-embracing Mother Earth character, and they live cozily, if chaotically, in a cluttered house in the Copenhagen suburbs. Their happiness comes abruptly to an end when their parents acrimoniously separate and dad runs off with his female apprentice. The siblings move with their distraught mother to the countryside, where they find a rundown, drafty cottage. They're both taunted at school for being "townies" and different; Carmen responds by simply staying away, while Adrian has to put up with the bullying. After a while, he befriends a boy in the school, but this, too, proves temporary. Eventually, he finds the love he needs in the sympathetic arms of his teacher. An electrical storm brings ominous developments to the little family.