Lo enjoys a sheltered safe childhood, but when she is six years old a fire breaks out in a field by her home, and in the aftermath she makes a new friend.
Lukas is thirteen and Lo's family are deeply suspicious of his motives for befriending such a young girl. The pair are forced to meet in secret, sleeping side by side by the lake every summer.
For her fifteenth birthday, Lukas takes Lo to the Tivoli pleasure gardens in Copenhagen. Senses dulled by dancing, drink and fairy lights, she falls early to sleep, and wakes to find their lives and friendship changed forever.