It is the Spring of 1945 on the German island of Amrum, a remote outpost in the North Sea. The front is far away, and 12-year-old Nanning (newcomer Jasper Billerbeck) spends his days working the nearby farm and his nights fishing, helping his mother to feed their family. Despite the hardship, life on the beautiful, windswept isle seems idyllic. When their anti-fascist neighbor Tessa (Diane Kruger) mentions to Nanning that the war will soon be over, the boy – too young to understand the political implications – is pleased to imagine that his father, a Nazi officer, might soon be