 Bella is 21 and lives with her boy friend Niels, a much older man. They have lived together for seven years since she was 14. The story shifts between the past and the present, to show what caused he to live with Niels, and why she is at present so tormented. In the past she was sexually abused by a relative and her parents could not take care of her. Since then she has been living with Niels, but at present he will not sleep with her. Hence she seeks out boys of her own age to obtain the sexual attention she is missing. The story jumps several times back, further back and forth again to show the many twist and turns in Bella s tormented life. It just seems like she always causes other people, as well as herself, to end up unhappy.