Set in the neurosurgical ward of Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet, the city and country's main hospital, nicknamed "Riget", "Riget" means "the realm" or "the kingdom" and leads one to think of "dødsriget", the realm of the dead.

From a working class coming-of-age novel, Morten Arnfred fashioned his feature film to recapture the feel, the sting, the pain, but also the spirit of solidarity of the 1950s in the metropolitan city of Copenhagen: at the center, young Johnny, helpless, hapless, happy, unhappy, going through the motions of growing up. Bodil awards: Best Film and Best Actor (Allan Olsen).

A dying elderly scientist proposes love-sick Jonas a cure that will improve the youngster's physical skills and general sex-appeal. What the scientist really aims to accomplish is a body switch: he wants to survive in a young man's body and gladly leaves Jonas to wake up in his own wasted frame. Jonas must somehow signal his predicament to his friends. Both men rev up for a survival-of-the-fittest chase.