Even after living in America for 15 years, Michelle Østergaard still felt like an outsider. She was proud of her Danish background but it wasn't the sort of place other people related to. They looked vague or glazed over when she said Denmark, let alone her home town of Køge. Perhaps the only other person she related to was her friend Hjørdis Jørgensen, another outsider, a loner. And her mum of course.