Let the River Flow

In 1979, Ester moves to Alta to take a temporary teaching job and visits her mother Máret. Reporters on television discuss Sámi opposition to the Alta dam, foreshadowing a national confrontation. Ester senses the political storm around her and her people's future.

Ester goes cloudberry picking with her grandmother Áhkku, who sings the yoik her father composed for Ester. The songs anchor her in Sámi heritage despite mounting pressure. The moment foreshadows the cultural struggle at the heart of the protest.

Mihkkal arrives to pick Ester up, wearing his gákti, and takes her on a detour to the protest camps at Stilla. There she meets Risten, another Sámi protester, and glimpses the growing resistance. The journey marks her first exposure to non-violent protest culture.

Ester starts her teaching job and hides her Sámi heritage, often laughing at anti-Sámi jokes. She remarks that the dam should go ahead despite protests, and her colleague Gøran flirts with her outside a bar. They are drawn into a tense moment when a Sámi man is harassed for not speaking Norwegian, and Ester pretends not to know him.

Back at the Stilla camp with Mihkkal, Ester learns about non-violent resistance as a strategy against the dam project. The protesters plan peaceful actions rather than violent confrontations. She starts to see a path for Sámi political power.

An altercation erupts between protesters and local residents who support the dam. The clash exposes deep divisions over the project. Ester witnesses the cost of civil disobedience.

Ester witnesses her Sámi student Ailu experience social exclusion at school. She goes home to find her gákti, which Áhkku has restored. Ester wears it again, recalls her father, and Máret shares painful family history from residential school, underscoring language suppression.

Máret explains that they both attended residential school where Sámi language was punished and expresses doubt about a Sámi future. She reveals her pain and urges caution, revealing the emotional cost of the dam project. Ester's resolve hardens amid the memory.

Ester joins the Sámi Action Group in Oslo, where they set up camp and begin a hunger strike against the dam. The protest intensifies as she collapses on the fifth day and is taken to hospital. Mihkkal leaves in distress, showing the toll of the campaign.

In response to the hunger strike, the government agrees to halt construction until a new parliamentary debate can be held. The Sámi Action Group hails this as a victory and gains momentum for their cause. The pause buys time for political mobilization.

At Christmas, Ester argues with Stein about whether the dam's halt will hold. She gives Thomas her father's Four Winds hat, while Máret looks uncomfortable with the gesture. Ester leaves the family home, signaling a break from her previous life.

After a meeting, Ester learns via radio that Parliament has voted to continue the dam. Mihkkal urges her to listen as well as speak up, and gives her his car key and Sámi flag to motivate her activism. She goes door-to-door canvassing to mobilize support for the protest.

Tragedy strikes as Mihkkal dies by suicide. At his funeral, Máret appears in traditional clothes, and the two women make amends. Ester returns to the protest camp stronger and ready to keep fighting.

When the police move to clear the road, Mihkkal's Sámi flag is removed by an officer. Ester tackles the officer trying to reclaim it and is dragged away, highlighting the ongoing friction with authorities.

Some time later, Ester drives Ailu home from school. Ailu asks if she can sing, and she reveals she knows one; she begins to sing Mihkkal's yoik, ending the film with a note of resilience.