The main character is lawyer Claes Thune and the book is set in a Finnish-Swedish bourgeois environment.

Thune becomes involved as a foreign policy writer in the daily press and is published in Svenska Pressen [sv].

She has tragic memories of the Finnish Civil War and the abuses committed against her in prison camps.

One day, when the Wednesday Club meets in Thune's office, Matilda hears her tormented voice from the prison camp.

The book recounts the event at the opening of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium when Abraham Tokazier, who was of Jewish descent, crossed the finish line in the 100-metre race in first place.