In a centuries-old European restaurant called The Hills, a middle-aged waiter takes pride in the unchangeable aspects of his job: the well-worn uniform, the ragged tablecloths, and the regular diners. Some are there daily, like "Le Gris"—also known as The Pig—and his dignified group of aesthetes. Everything is just so, and that's exactly how the waiter needs it to be—until a beautiful young woman walks through the door, and in this novel by Norway's Matias Faldbakken, she upsets the delicate balance of the restaurant and all it has come to represent.