Erling arrives by boat. He has worked on whaling ships and has been charged with murder. The year is 1915, the setting a detention centre for delinquent boys on the island of Bastøy, at the seaward end of the Oslo fjord. Hard work and discipline are what the guards believe will convert these youths into well-adjusted Christian citizens. Erling’s defiant attitude makes an immediate impression on the other boys, as he quickly determines the only means of survival is escape.