AllMovie

It is 1948, and Camilla (Nina Knapskog) is a seven-year-old girl living in a rundown neighborhood in the city of Bergen with two parents who are at odds with each other. Her father (Helge Jordal) once had a business that went bankrupt, and now has a lowly shoe repair shop -- though appearances are deceiving, because he kept aside a large sum of money from his bankruptcy suit and has it stored away in a safe place while he waits for the time he will need it. He hopes that time will come soon enough, since he relies on his stash of wealth to get him and a mistress off to Canada. Camilla's mother (Vibeke Lockkeberg -- also the director and writer of this film) not only knows where her husband has hidden his cash, she has secretly moved it. Little Camilla knows both secrets, but is not about to talk. Her parents' fighting marginates her, they ignore her because they are too much involved in their own problems to glance at hers. Yet they compensate at times by showing that they do care after all. Caught in this complex push and pull of emotions and behavior, Camilla finds some solace in the companionship of her new friend Svein (Kenneth Johansen), another seven-year-old beset by his own problems -- his mother is on the brink of being declared unfit, an action that would send Svein to an orphanage. Camilla's inherent good spirit gets her through the rough spots, and hopefully, some of that spirit will rub off on her warring parents.