Kesse is not yet 50, but things have changed from how they always were. Like his grandfather and father before him, he takes his own cutter to fish the sea off the coast of north Jutland. But the stock is limited, and fishing has long since become a highly competitive business. Kesse has no interest in being a businessman and he is pressured by the bank to give up his cutter as quickly as possible. Since he can barely pay his deckhand Lars any more, he has to let him go. Hope arrives in the form of female marine biologist Gerd, who offers to ensure Kesse a higher catch quota in return for using the boat for research. Kesse falls in love with Gerd, while starting to get involved with the trade of illegal fishing. This social drama about an old-fashioned fisherman is believable because it avoids easy answers.