Ben moves in with Croatian former Olympic athlete and multiple sports super-coach Nikola P., whose charges won many medals, before an unfair scandal made him retire disgusted. He gave away all his fortune and lives in a home he built alone and keeps fitting, now with Ben's help, in Croatia's hinterland forest. The villagers mistrust him and his only regular visitor, a teacher who became his lover. Yet Nikola also coaches the nearest town's sports club, which now miraculously produces multiple national champions. Ben needs time to get a grip on his complex psychology, combining hermit self-sufficiency -he breeds animals but can't slaughter them- with sincere caring for the world, especially durability, settling for simple satisfaction without luxury, even challenging himself at the expense of efficiency, with varying successes, like an open-air bathtub and muddy unfinished open air swimming pool. Ben experiences Nikola retains great shape on a wild cycling ride through the national park woods.
—KGF Vissers