In March 1920 Icelandic days are short and cold, but the nights are long. For most, on those nights, funny, sad, and dramatic stories are told around the fire. But there is nothing dramatic about Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith who barely manages to make ends meet. He knows nobody will remember his existence - they already don't. All he wants is peace, the company of his animals, and a steady supply of his medication. Sometimes he wonders what it would feel like to have a story of his own. He's about to find out.Sigurd - a man with a plan, a broken ankle, and shocking amounts of money - won't talk about himself, but is happy to tell a story that just might get Gunnar killed. The blacksmith's other "friends" are just as eager to write him into stories of their own - from Brynhildur who wants to fix Gunnar, then marry him, his doctor who is on the precipice of calling for an intervention, The Conservative Women of Iceland who want to rehabilitate Gunnar's "heathen ways" - even that wicked elf has plans for the blacksmith.As his defenses begin to crumble, Gunnar decides that perhaps his life is due for a change - on his own terms. But can he avoid the endings others have in mind for him, and forge his own?