During a storm surge on the North Sea coast in 2007, farm worker Iven takes 3-year old Wienke, the daughter of dike warden Hauke Haien and his wife Elke, to Hamburg and leaves her outside a children’s home. Iven becomes a doorman in St. Pauli. 15 years later, he is visited by a young woman. She wants to know who she is and where she comes from. And she wants him to find her parents. Unwillingly, for he too has a past he would prefer to forget, Iven takes her to the village of Stegebüll on the coast. For the pair, a dramatic journey back in time begins to the fateful events in Stegebüll and the downfall of Hauke Haien and his family.