The siblings Eydis and Kari are only five and six years old when their parents' marriage breaks apart. As their mother struggles to find her footing following the divorce, they are sent temporarily to a countryside children's home. But the stay turns out to be longer than they had ever expected.

After having witnessed her father's brutal murder, three-year-old Alma and her mother fled their war-torn homeland and settled in Iceland. Now, 25 years later, Alma is serving time in a psych ward for murdering her boyfriend, a crime she can't remember. But when she discovers the boyfriend is still alive, Alma decides to escape and kill him after all.