Torun spends her summer holidays by the Danish atlantic coast with her two children and her sister Ellen. While Torun takes a nap Ellen looks after the boys playing on the beach. Ellen dozes off for a couple of minutes. One of the children dies. Back in Stockholm Torun is unable to grieve over the lost life of - her child. Are tears too simple a way out? How does one grieve? „ She expects her husband Mikael to punish her, but he can only try to love and support her. Torun looks elsewhere for punishment, often with other men, just to find herself on dead-end roads. Autumn turns to winter, winter to spring. Disintegration and breakup followed by reconciliation. The following summer the family returns to the same beach. Although their world has changed entirely, the sea looks exactly the same...