Jesper Johansson, making an opening narration of the story, is the selfish, lazy and spoiled son of a very wealthy Postmaster General, who has made another attempt to reform Jesper by enrolling his son into his postman training academy. Jesper deliberately underperforms, forcing his father to finally send him to the distant northern island town of Smeerensburg with the task of posting six-thousand letters within a year. If Jesper fails, then he shall be cut off from the family estate. Upon arriving at the town, Jesper meets ferryman Mogens, and teacher-turned-fishmonger Alva, who explain to him the source of the town's nature: its perpetually warring families—the Ellingboes and the Krums—comprise nearly all of the populace, and hardly exchange words, let alone letters.
