Thelma, a young and shy student, has just left her very devout parents' home, on Norway's west coast, to study at Oslo University. At the university, she feels irresistibly and secretly drawn to the very beautiful Anja. Everything seems to be going well but one day at the library she has an extremely violent epileptic fit. Little by little, Thelma feels submerged by the intensity of her feelings for Anja, which she dare not admit - even to herself, and is prey to increasingly frequent fits. It soon becomes obvious that these attacks are in fact the symptoms of supernatural and dangerous faculties. Thelma is then confronted by her past, weighed down by the tragic implications of her powers.