Pelle Nordhøj Kann

1962 is the year when an entire generation lives life as though it was their last day. Young activist Eik Skaløe has his entire life turned upside down when he falls head over heels in love with the beautiful peace activist Iben Nagel Rasmussen, and she falls in love with him. But Iben is a child of the times, and freely accepts the order of the day: free love and sex. She renounces personal right of ownership and will not settle for one man when she can have several. In typically romantic fashion, he begins a struggle to win all of her love. As a poet, writer and singer he constantly confesses his love to her. But Eik must accept defeat, and in 1968 he travels without his beloved Itsi Bitsi to Nepal, the Land of Dreams in the East. A journey from which he will never return.

Set in the early 1960s, the story evolves around highschool sweethearts Jonas and Agnete, their friendships and families, trials and tribulations. Jonas fails to give Agnete the kind of attention she craves, and when she decides to start a new romance, he feels for the first time a cold stab of jealousy. Their rocky relationship takes Jonas through the spectrum of emotions that arises with an aching heart. »Aching Hearts« is shot over a period of three years, taking into account the development of the young actors, some of whom are amateurs from the actual milieus Malmros is depicting.