In 18th-century Denmark, impoverished war hero Capt. Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) sets out to tame a vast, uninhabitable land on which seemingly nothing can grow. This beautiful but forbidding area is under the rule of Frederik De Schinkel, a merciless nobleman who realises the threat Kahlen represents to his power. As a new community starts to settle in, De Schinkel swears vengeance, leading to a violent and intense confrontation between the two men.