On Amrum Island in spring 1945, twelve-year-old Nanning hunts seals, fishes at night, and works the fields to help feed his family. When the war ends, his mother sinks into depression, and he must navigate new conflicts while struggling to find his own path.

A steady gaze and a level horizon impart a stunning simplicity to a deafeningly tempestuous period of history in Fatih Akin’s arresting film, featuring Diane Kruger. Vast stretches of windblown beach become a painter’s canvas for a pivotal conflict between childhood innocence and malignant ideology.