On an ice-cold winter evening, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) wipes out all electricity across Norway. At the center of the chaos is Tea, a 22-year-old woman living alone in a small apartment in the city. She teams up with her neighbor Herman (24), and together they manage through the first week without power. But as time passes with no sign of recovery, the reality of the situation begins to sink in. Grocery stores empty out, the water stops running, the apartment grows freezing cold, and help cannot reach them. Cut off from the outside world, Tea decides to make her way to her childhood home outside the city, hoping to find her family and some sense of safety.

Together with Herman, she sets out on what should have been a simple journey, only a few miles away, but without technology or modern transportation, the road home becomes a dangerous challenge. Authorities eventually confirm that a satellite carrying an EMP weapon crashed over Norway, and that restoring power could take a very long time. With digital communication and transportation completely paralyzed, the flow of information collapses. No one knows what is happening, and confusion and mistrust begin to spread.

After a painful breakup and a severe case of writer’s block, 30-year-old novelist Johannes moves into Linden Lane 6, a charming apartment building where the residents proudly describe themselves as one big family.

As Johannes settles in, he falls for his upstairs neighbor, Roosa. He gradually realizes that everyone else in the building is a woman. Beneath the welcoming atmosphere, the community becomes increasingly unsettling. Strange rituals, intrusive neighbors, and the mysterious disappearance of the previous male tenant lead Johannes to suspect that something is deeply wrong.

As Johannes uncovers the truth, he realizes that the entire community has been manipulating him from the very beginning. Roosa has been part of the plan all along, and when the autumn equinox arrives, Johannes understands too late that he has become their next victim. Soon, a new man moves into Linden Lane 6, where everyone is welcomed like family.

Summer 1970. As Finland carefully balances between East and West, diligent civil servant Heikki is ordered to host a high-ranking Soviet diplomat at his family’s lakeside cottage.

What should be a routine gesture of goodwill quickly turns into an increasingly absurd test of loyalty as every request from the guest pushes the boundaries of diplomacy, hospitality and personal dignity. Determined to protect both his family and his country’s fragile political position, Heikki swallows one humiliation after another, while the seemingly harmless weekend descends into manipulation, jealousy and psychological power games.

Sauna Diplomacy is an intimate portrait of Finlandization, revealing how international politics can invade the most private corners of everyday life and asking how much a person, or an entire nation, can bend before finally breaking.