Olaf Jensen is an old, Danish white man who is one night short of his sixtieth birthday. Olaf is a night porter, a job that brings him into contact with many kinds of people and to which he is suited after a life spent as a sailor and soldier. Olaf is an average person who doesn’t have much money but has enough and has worries that ordinary people have, including rowdy guests, how to please his wife, and how to deal with his boss. All of that changes with the encounter with Jim, a black sailor who stays at the hotel. The interaction with Jim forces Olaf to confront his own racism and to affirm in a deep way his proclaimed egalitarianism.

During the encounters with Jim, the ordinarily placid Olaf becomes emotional and has wild revenge fantasies about Jim’s ship sinking and sea animals devouring Jim. These fantasies move closer to the realm of reality when Olaf reaches for his gun as his fear of Jim overwhelms him. The nadir of the feelings Olaf experiences during encounters with Jim come when Olaf urinates on himself once he is convinced Jim intends to kill him. Essentially, being in the presence of Jim diminishes Olaf’s perception of himself and makes him feel less of a man.