Göran Tunström

The 1930s. Sidner's mother Solveig dies in a very unfortunate bicycle accident involving some cows. Sidner, his sister and his father Aron move to Sunne to work at a hotel. Aron tries hard to leave the sweet memories of his wife behind him but that isn't made easier by the fact that he always meets her ghost. Aron gets himself a pen friend, a young girl in New Zealand called Tessa. He starts to dream of beginning a new life on the other side of the world. Will his dreams come true and can they help him to cure his regret over the death of his wife?

He is conductor on the railcar to Vänersborg. She is a conductor on the Herrljunga train. For two minutes once a week, their trains stop at the same platform.

The Wikmansson family—mother Linda, father Ludde, daughter Agnes, adopted son Bertil, and their adoptive grandfather—move to the countryside in an effort to escape consumerism and reduce their environmental impact. Linda is pregnant, and the baby is affectionately referred to as "broster," a blend of the Swedish words for "brother" and "sister."