Pierre Anthon and his classmates have just started 8th grade, when Pierre Anthon declares that life has no meaning, leaves school and moves up in a tree, refusing to come down. This sparks an existential crisis amongst his classmates. They decide to gather their most valuable belongings in a “heap of meaning” that will convince Pierre Anthon that he is wrong. A dangerous, disturbing, and controversial study of what really matters has begun.

The dangerous paranoia lurking beneath the seemingly idyllic existence of a family of hermits living on a remote island begins to come to the fore when their daughter starts to question her parents' worldview.