A political comedy about the effects of the apparent discovery of gold in the sands near a small community on Iceland's south coast. Troops from the American NATO base "invade" the territory, journalists from Reykjavik arrive and the morals of the local inhabitants quickly turn topsy-turvy.
A young couple moves into an old house. She teaches deaf children, he is a musician, working on his own compositions. Their separate worlds, one silent, the other full of sounds, create a vivid pattern of contrasts, which affect their emotional lives and their living together. From the time they move into the house, they are strangely aware of something odd, especially she, while he concentrates more and more upon his work. A series of incidents adds to her growing uneasiness about the house. Its past seems to creep in on her. She feels as if some tragedy must have befallen the people that lived there before, but when she starts asking around she gets few answers. There is something about the house that seems to be on the verge of overpowering her - something that in an unexpected way is related to her origins and permanently affects her life and destiny.
Seeking revenge against the rival clan responsible for the killing, Hagbard, the son of a slain Norse king, calms down long enough to establish a truce. He also falls in love with Signe, the daughter of his one-time enemy. Signe's former beau, sizzling with jealousy, breaks the truce and makes it appear that Hagbard was responsible.