Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses substance abuse, alcohol addition, and sexual assault.

Chapter 1 introduces Lars Thorvald, whose troubled childhood involves being dubbed “fish boy” due to his family’s Nordic tradition of cooking lutefisk, leaving him with a fishy smell that repels women. His father, Gustaf Thorvald, is the owner of Gustaf & Sons, the bakery in Duluth, Minnesota. He takes over making lutefisk for the local community after a disruption in the supply caused by a woman falling through ice. However, this responsibility eventually falls to Lars, who feels persecuted by his father as none of his brothers are forced to continue this pungent tradition.

Surprisingly, this leads to Lars becoming a master chef in the kitchen, attracting Nordic Lutherans from miles away to savor his lutefisk. His culinary skills extend beyond Nordic cuisine, as he masters French, Italian, German, and American dishes. This expertise earns him a job at Hutmacher’s, a trendy lakeside restaurant, where he meets Cynthia Hargreaves, a beautiful and statuesque woman. They begin dating, get married in late October 1988, and soon Cynthia becomes pregnant with Eva Louise Thorvald, the central protagonist of the novel.