Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old, next-door neighbor Eli, who only appears at night in the snow-covered playground outside their building.

A girl, Selinda, runs into her parents’ bedroom in the middle of the night, claiming that a strange man just climbed through her window. The event causes a commotion in the entire residential area where they live. Some immediately assume that the outsider running the convenience store is the perpetrator. Others doubt the girl’s story. In the midst of this drama, middle-aged Paul is trying to find his way back to his daughter, who is growing up, and away from him.