Joel is thirteen and wants to grow up as quickly as possible. On the night when the first snow of the year falls, he solemnly makes three vows: First, he wants to toughen himself up to live to be a hundred years old. Second, he wants to finally see the sea, which his father has told him so much about. And third, he wants to see a naked woman sometime this year, or even better: one veiled only in sheer fabrics and dancing, like that Salome the teacher read about from the Bible. For toughening up against the cold, there are plenty of opportunities in the small village high up in northern Sweden where Joel lives. As for the sea, he would first need to get his father Samuel moving. However, even though he used to be a sailor and still longs to escape the gloomy forests, he has been listless ever since Joel's mother left him.