Two brothers are neighbours in remote northern Sweden. Hador lives alone and is dying of cancer. A field away is the house of his brother Olof who also lives alone and who is dying of heart disease. The two brothers no longer meet or speak. Neither brother will consent to die because that would give the other the satisfaction of outliving him. They used to share a wife, each thinking he had sole tenure. Each supposed that he was the father of the woman s only son. The boy died in an accident while the two brothers bickered over which of them should rescue him. Their rancours come to light when a woman writer arrives in the village to give a lecture and lodges with one of the brothers. In Torgny Lindgren s unsparing black comedy, she becomes the messenger between them, the joint repository for their recriminations.