A family chronicle set in Brittany, giving an intricate portrait of the local fishing industry and the crises that marked the second part of the twentieth century.

Just as the narrator learns that he's soon to become the father of a little girl, he also learns that his own father, Jean, went down with his sinking boat. In homage to his father, and perhaps also to ease his own pain, the narrator sits down to write a novel about the boat, Ar c’hwil, that had been in his life for as long as he can remember. Behind the history of the boat is the story of his father, and the sorrows and tragedies of his life, but also the story of a loving family.