In a stark world, a desperate man fights nature and his horrid past for survival. Will he find redemption or death where the ocean meets the shore?

SYNOPSIS:

Over black, we hear waves pounding the shore. In voiceover, a rough man states he fought as long as he could, and now he’s ready to die. Suddenly, we’re in deep sand dunes. A white man named NAMON with a snowy beard and a Polynesian girl named KALIA run for their lives. They just came out of a freak rainstorm, and their wearing tattered, futuristic clothing is soaked through. In short, they’re about to freeze to death.

They arrive at the ocean. The beach and sky are a desaturated, salt-white canvas so any color leaps out whether pine needles, orange hair, or blood-red scars. The man desperately makes a fire. They finally get it going, narrowly avoiding death.

The two retrieve a cache of tools, and the girl sets up camp while the man digs three mysterious trenches then lines them with blue tarps. The minimal dialogue describes an apocalyptic end to civilization, and that the leaders of their small agricultural community, The Farm, sent them on this mission...whatever it is.

The old man works for 24 hours straight to dig and fill the trenches with seawater. That night, wolves attack the camp. Namon runs them off, but not before one gives his ankle a nasty wound. The next day, Kalia leaves her pack open, and crabs steal all her food. Namon goes fishing but his catch is stolen by a seabird. Kalia digs for clams successfully.

That night in camp, the girl asks about an election on The Farm, where the community voted the old man as king…but he refused. She asks him why, and Namon sidesteps the question. The next day Kalia surprises him with a grass crown she wove; he becomes angry and throws the crown into the fire. She pulls it out, but not before it’s half-burnt.

We learn that their mission is to dry salt from the sea. The only way to preserve food back home is with salt, and if they fail, the entire community of eighty people will die. While digging for clams, the girl cuts her leg deeply. The man patches the wound but is scared to have her life in his hands. He gives her all the remaining food and sends her on a solo journey back to The Farm.

When the sun-distilled salt is only a day away from being ready, a downpour wipes out weeks’ worth of work. Namon refills the trenches wearily. He forages for seaweed and mussels. Bad clams give him food poisoning, and he falls into a fever.

A fire in the tent awakens the old man. Without shelter and badly burned, he shivers through a miserable night.

The next day, he checks the trenches. The saltwater has evaporated to the consistency of wet sand. He finds a dead raccoon face down in one of the trenches. It looks sick, and he has to throw the salt in that trench out.

He falls into a fitful sleep and has a flashback: Namon and his younger brother worked at this beach many years ago, doing the same job of distilling salt. The younger brother got drunk and drowned face down in a salt pit. Namon has blamed himself ever since—he felt responsible for it and has avoided taking care of anyone since that day.

Back in the present, Namon’s brother comes to him and says Namon may want to quit, but giving up means eighty people will die. He also tells Namon he doesn’t blame him for his death. Namon wakes up, no longer blaming himself.

Finally the new batch of salt is fully dry. The old man tears down camp, buries the tools, and packs 150 pounds of salt. He’s ready to make the trip home. He climbs to the top of the dune and pauses. Slipping the half-burned crown over his head, he leaves the beach and his traumatic past behind.