Modris is a normal 17-year-old with a girlfriend and some good pals at school. But his addiction to gambling makes his relationship with his mother difficult, especially since she keeps on reminding him that his father is in prison - so Modris must have inherited his bad genes.
Things come to a head in the middle of the Nordic winter when Modris pawns his mother’s electric heater so he can play the slot machines. She betrays him to the police, and as he begins his adventures in the Latvian justice system, his relationship to the outside world changes. Soon Modris becomes determined to find the father he never knew.