After months without pay, the already disgruntled crew on a Turkish cargo ship arrives in an Egyptian port and learns that the Port Authority is foreclosing on them. Ordered to anchor offshore, the remaining skeleton crew has their passports seized and must maintain the vessel until its owner’s debts are paid. Tensions quickly arise between the authoritarian Cypriot captain, his devoutly religious second-in-command, an affable cook, and a trio of newcomers to the ship—a pair of druggie ne’er-do-wells and the near-mute, hulking Kurd. As months pass, food and entertainment dwindle, alliances shift, and the men take out their raw frustration on one another.

Too much happens too many times in this potentially brilliant parable.

Aydin, a retired actor, owns a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal and his sister Necla, who is coping with her recent divorce. During the winter, snow covers the ground and boredom brings the return of old memories, pushing Aydin to flee…