Leaving the cold and snow of Scandinavia for the warm, sandy beaches of Thailand in the dead of winter is more than a dream, more than a holiday for a handful of Swedes. It’s the beginning of a life-changing adventure, a fresh start, a new life.

For the long-suffering wife of an abusive ex-pilot, it’s a chance to be treated with dignity and to taste the joys of freedom. For a lonely engineer who always dreamed of a loving family with several children, it’s the absurd plan of marrying a young Thai woman. And for an overambitious single-mother architect recovering from a stroke, it’s a possibility to relive the past with her two daughters on an island called Happiness. As their lives move deftly from one jolting event to another, they realise that while it may be impossible to completely leave their Nordic lives behind, it is possible to transcend their limits and reach satisfying moments of self-fulfilment.