In 1970s Stockholm, Beatrice's best friend is her seventy-something home-help client Gustav. Generally talkative, Gustav never speaks of his past, other than his stories about putting on plays in the attic with Greta Garbo. Yet when Gustav is taken to a mental hospital, where he is heavily sedated, Beatrice learns the stories are true. Beatrice, determined to get Gustav out and find out why he was put there, garners the help of a Swedish drug dealer, a South American kidnapper and, as a last resort, Greta Garbo. To rescue Gustav, they must delve into the shadier parts of his-and Sweden's-past."