Set in the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet, the city and country's main hospital, nicknamed "Riget", "Riget" means "the realm" or "the kingdom" and leads one to think of "dødsriget", the realm of the dead.

Karl Åge and Regitze host a summer garden party for close friends, their son, and his family. Karl Åge is quiet, detached; Regitze is spirited, lively. He thinks back: love at first sight during the war, living together unmarried, her mother's hunger strike when they won't baptize their son. Regitze is passionate and forthright; she speaks her mind. He remembers her inviting a derelict for Christmas dinner, and the man shows up with five bashful friends. He recalls her taking on their son's teacher when the man slaps the lad. He remembers her love of dancing and his fear that his social clumsiness might end their relationship. Now, in twilight, he has other things to face.

The neighbourhood is tough. New-built concrete towers, which are not yet completely finished but already slum. Daily police raids. Daily suicide jumps from the roofs. Here lives Sally in a two-bedroom, with her parents and younger brother. Sally is dreaming big. She wants to be a fighter pilot, and she wants to be rich! She has already started her own business, collecting empty bottles and bits and pieces of scraps. And Sally don't care much for the immigrants in her area. She takes every opportunity to vent her inner racist. Turkish Zuhal move in with his family. "A new flock of Bedouins" Sally condescendingly comments. But what she does not know is that this will be one of the major turning points in her life ...