Anna lives with her father Karl someplace in the outskirts of northern Norway. Karl killed his ex-wife and threw her newborn coloured child into the sea when he discovered that she obviously had been unfaithful. Now Karl is being haunted by her ghost and is developing a serious drinking problem. Anna is looking for the love of her life, but there aren't many bachelors around - until they discovers another small family on the other side of the mountain. They meet a semi-alcoholized widow on Karl's age, her son Peder, and her black adopted son, Ante, that arrived from the sea on a piece of wood.