A girl is struck down by polio during the terrifying epidemic ofthe early 1950s. Paralysed and unable to breathe on her own,she is committed to hospital in Copenhagen and placed inan iron lung. Forty years earlier, near Budapest, a child grows up in anorphanage for boys.

The child goes by thename of 'Boy' but is not like the others, as their body seems totranscend the categories of boy or girl. Between these twoyoung people, there is a powerful, enigmatic bond thatstretches across time and space.