Jón Hjaltalín, the mayor of a small West Iceland town, and Torfi, his brother, decide to buy an old trawler and start fishing. When the bank men arrive from Reykjavík to sign the contract, not everything goes to plan.
A year later, the whole country is in a state of paralysis due to the fishermen's strike. Harpa and Grímur are between a rock and a hard place and have to choose between going on strike or drowning in debt.