Ivan is a very lonely 8 year boy who is bullied almost every day in school. Even his father taunts him because Ivan litteraly is a weakling (That should explain the title Rubber Tarzan). As a result of this Ivan spends a lot of his time on daydreaming until he meets a kind of kindred spirit - the friendly and lonely crane driver Ole.

John and René are in their twenties, close friends but different enough for René to be nicknamed Thunderbird, while John remains just plain John. John feels irresistibly drawn into Thunderbird's orbit, but René isn't all flash. He actually longs to share John's plainness and quiet calm.