These are the Faroe Islands as they were some fifty years ago sea-washed & remote with one generation still tied to the ocean for sustenance & a younger generation turning towards commerce & clerical work in the towns Following the blood foam & fury of a whale kill the normally cautious Ketil finds himself caught up in the frenzy of post celebrations enthusiastically bidding for more meat than he can afford Thus in his seventieth year Ketil & his wife along with their youngest son struggle to repay their debt Forced to accept the brutal reality of their precarious existence they scavenge for driftwood & stranded seals