Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses Nazi persecution of Jewish people and the accidental death of a child.

In early November 1999, Trond Sander sits in the kitchen of the small, dilapidated house he recently purchased in the remote woods of eastern Norway, where he lives with his dog, Lyra. His house is near a river, and there is a cottage whose lights he can see from his doorstep where another man and a dog live. Trond hears small birds called titmice repeatedly banging into his window and wonders what he has that they want. His days at the house have settled into a routine where he reads the newspaper, takes Lyra for a walk, and works on fixing up the cabin and enjoying his solitude. He thinks about the nearing millennium and how all he has left is time.

He recalls being awoken the night before by a loud noise and seeing his neighbor out in the dark looking for his dog. He goes out to help and meets the man, who introduces himself as Lars Haug; Trond feels awkward, and the meeting reminds him of awkwardness at a funeral he attended with his father in the woods many years ago.