It's Lene's first day back at work after some time off. Friends and acquaintances, regulars and strangers come to her jazz and blues bar. While Lene is waiting for Danish musician Leif, who is scheduled to perform tonight, the guests discuss all kinds of topics, ranging from pop music by elves and invisible cell phones to maggots eating away at corpses. But what if Leif doesn't show up at all?

It is June 18, 19**. On this astonishingly hot afternoon, Étienne Pignon is sitting—unusually upright by his standards—at the head of a long, lavishly set table on the shore of a lake, grinning from ear to ear.