The action of "The Salt Bin" takes place in and around Tysfjord in northern Norway in the 1950s and 1960s. The Sami, an indigenous minority group, are pitted against the Norwegians, the area's dominant population. The novel is a story about the Sami's struggle to survive materially and culturally and their different ways of counteracting prejudice and discrimination. They earn their livelihood by picking berries, hunting and even joining the mighty fleet of Lofoten fishermen, in boats that are not made for the open sea. Agnar, his wife Lisa and their oldest son Petter are the novel's main characters. Feeling he belongs to an inferior race, Agnar tried to conceal his herritage. Lisa, on the other hand, fights fights for her own and her family's rights. And Petter has inherited some of his mother's pride and resists the attempts of the dominant culture to belittle and humiliate him because he is a "dumb Lapp." This is a story of degredation and sadness but also of humor and hope, in spite of it all.
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