The Play is Written is the lively and evocative life story of Peter, a spiritual seeker, as told to a man he encounters in an airport when their flights are delayed.Growing up in a small town in Denmark in the 1950s, Peter befriends an enigmatic watchmaker and "e;prophet"e; named Carl Hansen, who lost his Jewish wife at the hands of the Nazis. Later he falls under the spell of Carl's beautiful daughter, Maria, and hears about a mysterious group that follows an esoteric Christian system of self-knowledge. In the 1960s, after a brief marriage and the horrors of heroin addiction, Peter travels to India in an effort to assuage his spiritual hunger. He finds a teacher named Krishna, and comes closer to uncovering his own true nature.Back in Scandinavia, Peter and a friend find their way to the working community led by charismatic teacher "e;JC"e; in Sweden, and devote many years to learning from the master. In the background lurks the troubled and erratic Jude - Carl Hansen's stepson.When a member of the commune drowns, things start to fall apart.

The government is looking into its tax affairs, and the local farmers and villagers turn hostile. After a climactic confrontation, the surviving members go their separate ways, to carry on JC's work believing that the play is written, and what matters is how well we play our parts.