A brother and sister, Jacob Jacob Derwig and Marie Halina Reijn, grow up with their father and mother in a household that is increasingly strained by hardship. One day, their father abandons them in the woods while they are out gathering firewood, forcing the teens to fend for themselves. From that moment, they must navigate danger and scarcity with a raw, survivalist instinct, moving through life as if they were on their own in a wild world.
Their mother leaves a note tucked in Jacob’s jacket directing them to seek help with their aunt and uncle in Spain. When they finally reach the destination, they discover that both relatives have died in a sudden accident, leaving the siblings with even more uncertainty about what comes next. Hungry and unsettled, Jacob heads into town for a roll and discovers a note from Marie that she has married a wealthy man named Diego Carmelo Gómez. The newly joined path between the siblings quickly reveals distrust and fear, as Diego’s bright, courteous exterior hides a ruthless plan.
Diego, a surgeon, has a disturbing motive: he intends to steal Jacob’s kidney to help his ailing sister Teresa Elvira Mínguez. Under this calculated pressure, Diego drugs both Marie and Jacob, disorienting them and tearing apart any sense of family safety they once had. The two siblings are forcibly separated as Diego moves to claim what he wants, and Marie manages a desperate escape while Jacob lies badly injured in a stolen car.
Reunited against the odds, Jacob and Marie flee once more, only to be stalked by Diego in their wake. The chase ends when Diego’s car crashes off the road, and the siblings seek refuge in an abandoned house within a deserted village. Marie nurses Jacob back to health, using her resilience to stabilize him as they wait for a chance to move on.
As days pass, a brutal wind sweeps through the area, and Diego returns with renewed determination to take Marie and finish what he started with Jacob. In a tense, intimate confrontation, Jacob fights for his sister and ultimately shoots Diego with an arrow, ending his threat. They bury Diego’s body and, hearing distant patrols, slip under the house to hide as a routine police check passes by and departs.
With danger momentarily behind them, Jacob and Marie sit beside a gently flowing river, the current carrying away their fears as the credits roll, leaving them to face an uncertain future together yet somehow safer than they were before. The film maintains a stark, observational tone while tracing a precarious bond that sustains them through catastrophe, moral peril, and the fragile hope of survival.
