Kaunas in the 1930s, a city with high unemployment, where many people dream of emigrating to the USA. That includes young Adam, who lives on a boat in the harbour and listens to the stories told by the old sea wolf “Captain” about Singapore, Hawaii, and other exotic destinations. Adam succeeds in getting a job in the emigration office and then falls in love with laundrywoman Liucé. They begin to save money for a ship’s passage for the two of them. But an ominous “American” also shows interest in Liucé. In Vytautas Žalakevičius’ solo directing debut, now a classic, “man is shark to man”. In keeping with the American film noir styles, it’s a story of criminal machinations, with Adam’s boss at the centre of it all, embodied with uncanny familiarity by Donatas Banionis, the later star of such large-scale productions as “Goya” and “Solaris”.