The novel's characters explicitly draw inspiration from the story of Tristan and Isolde and the novel's plot bears some resemblance to this medieval romance.
Tristan is the son of Gerður and a Somali-Danish man later named as Karl; the fact that he is black is incidental to the plot but fairly often commented on in the text.
Tristan's mother finds that the mortgage on their new flat in Reykjavík is increasingly unaffordable due to the Crisis.
Unwilling to move away from Íris Sól or to reveal his relationship, Tristan runs away from home in order to emphasise his commitment to staying in Iceland.
Exhausted by the walk, he encounters two men making illicit use of the abandoned farm buildings by the stable.