In 17th-century Europe, Jacques, a young orphan from France, stows away aboard a fishing boat heading to the northern waters. Willing to brave the dangers and the rough life of a sailor, he is intent on one goal: to go to Iceland. There he hopes to find answers to the mysterious visions that have plagued him since childhood, his unexplained ability to speak and read Icelandic, and also to the strange phenomena that often occur around him.