After we've seen war-footage come raining upon us at ferocious speed, the image suddenly shifts into an desolated bar, showing the same footage on an bar-TV, whilst an bartender unknowingly cleans beer-glasses. Charlie, the films protagonist, is then seen driving his car towards this particular bar. The sun is breaking while Charlie parks outside Dick Turpin's pub. After sitting down and ordering a beer, Charlie starts recounting his steps before arriving at the pub.

Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old, next-door neighbor Eli, who only appears at night in the snow-covered playground outside their building.

The landlubber Stig-Helmer and his Norwegian friend Ole get on a barge by mistake. They arrive at an archipelago and have to spend Midsummer among the fancy rich boat people, their yachts and summer houses.