In a small village on the coast of Northern Norway lives the Myran family. Father is a fisher man and is, in the eyes of the oldest son, like a god on the sea. Mother spends every winter in fear of losing somebody she loves to the storms and waves. She longs to move inland and turn her back on the coast and all its dangers. The novel explores some of the tension between inland and coast, poor and wealthy, tradition and progress while also depicting the highs and lows of a winter of fishing in Lofoten.