Plot Summary

During a cold winter night at home in Copenhagen, a private detective deconstructs himself as a character through the arguments of Shakespeare's Hamlet in order to find meaning in his own existence. That night, during his former fiancée's wedding, Hamse Leth succumbs to his own scrutiny amidst a mid-life crisis. Meanwhile the other five characters (his partner, his Jewish mother, his ex-fiancé, a mysterious girl and prostitute) confront him with his innate uneasiness toward the Jante Law culture (The Scandinavian culture of equality and sameness). As the night goes on, the characters inhabit both Hamse's mental and physical world, which makes it increasingly difficult for the protagonist (like Hamlet) to separate the being from the seaming. However, by investigating the other characters' flaws and contradictions, Hamse, the baffling and long-seen outsider surprisingly reaches the clue to understanding his role in the Scandinavian society of sameness.