The story follows Jakobus Sinsheimer, a foundling known by a nickname, whose vigorous appetite for life carries him from humble origins to academic recognition and a celebrated marriage with Doris. Early episodes center on wedding festivities and spirited debates about marriage, freedom, and artistic vocation. The couple and their friends, including an articulate young woman named Hanna, join a loose community of artists and dreamers on an island in the Hardanger fjord, where communal living, creative pursuits, and transient pleasures contrast with social expectations. Through social scenes and personal choices, the narrative examines the pull between ordered domestic life and a restless artistic, communal freedom.