The humorous portrait, drawn with subtle irony, of a young Icelandic woman in the early 1960s who has big ambitions in a society where artists are male, and women only succeed if they showcase their beauty to be crowned Miss Iceland. The world is in turmoil. In America, Martin Luther King says, "I have a dream." John F. Kennedy is assassinated. The Beatles launch their world career in England. Only in Iceland does the world stand still. Hekla experiences this when, at the age of 22, she boards a smoky intercity bus with her Remington typewriter, a manuscript of a novel, James Joyce's "Ulysses," and an English dictionary, taking her from her family farm to Reykjavík. There, in the city of poets, she wants to realize her dream and become famous through her books. But the beautiful Hekla, named after a volcano, quickly realizes that in the conservative, male-dominated society, the interest in a Miss Iceland is greater than that in a female writer. Just like her friend Jón John, who dreams of a theater engagement and, as a gay man, faces similar limitations and role assignments, she recognizes that she can only realize her plans and find her freedom by leaving the island behind.