In 18th century Denmark, Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) – a proud,
ambitious, but impoverished war hero -- sets out to tame a vast, uninhabitable land on
which seemingly nothing can grow. He seeks to start farming crops, build a colony in the
name of the King, and gain a noble title for himself. This beautiful but forbidding area
also happens to be under the rule of the merciless Frederik De Schinkel, a preening
nobleman who realizes the threat Kahlen represents to his power. Struggling against the
elements and local brigands, Kahlen is joined by a couple who have fled the clutches of
the rapacious De Schinkel. As this group of misfits begins to build a small community in
this inhospitable place, De Schinkel swears vengeance, and the confrontation between
him and Kahlen promises to be as violent and intense as these two men.