A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.

Jonathan, a kind-hearted young man, is released from prison due to lack of evidence. He returns to his mother who lives in a small house by the dunes. Jonathan wants to forget the past and is determined to become a different and better person. But even though he strictly adheres to the rules, his good intentions are soon put to the test when a young woman moves in next to him with her small daughter.