Carsten Neuer, a German businessman, travels to Norway to complete an impossible translation of certain Tarjei Vesaas poetry into Chinese, a project initiated by his late wife. He hires Niko, a down-on-his-luck tour guide, to take him to the poet's house and sites of inspiration in order to spur his own translation. On the journey, Carsten encounters the ghost of his wife, while Niko deals with the unexpected repercussions of his girlfriend's pregnancy. Two very different men discover the transformative power of love, the limitations of language, and the universal human need for companionship on this voyage.