Viggo (Erik Clausen) er en halvtredsårig, bedrøvet, selvsikker, bedrevidende og charmerende mand, som stortrives på sit arbejde, hvor han har ført sig frem som en dygtig smed gennem 25 år. Hjemme hygger han sig bedst med sin fisk, mens han sommetider skændes med konen Oda (Helle Rysling), som hovedsageligt interesserer sig for familiens stamtavle og andre virkelighedsnære ting, hun kender fra ugebladene. Men idyllen varer ikke ved.

The early 1990s: 300,000 Danes are out of work. Viggo, a machinist with two grown children, is silent about feelings, scared he'll lose his job, loud about the value of trade unionism, interested in his pet fish, and argumentative at dinner. His wife Oda puts up with his moods and works on family genealogy. When Viggo is laid off, he becomes a fish out of water, hardly looking for work, starting a garden, and taking up with Karen, a polished but unhappy widow. He lies to his wife about a union training and goes to Mallorca with Karen. When she stops the affair, Viggo ends up in a psychiatric ward and must figure out what's really important in his life and in his character