Essentially this film is an essay about prejudice and fear of the unknown, and the enlightenment that can come through friendship and understanding of others. A little boy from a small Icelandic community sees a figure out on the Ice Floe, but too far away for him to judge whether man or beast. His wild imagination, together with the uneducated fears of some of the adults lead to alarm about the creature, and a hunting party goes looking, which is not what the boy wants. With the village divided, there is further difficulty resulting from an avalanche caused by a shot fired by one of the hunting party. What happens next leads the whole village to re-examine its outlook.