Robert, a businessman, has been done for corruption. While in prison he has lost his childhood friend, Alberto, in a car accident; Alberto, a free spirit whose surfer life, free of all monetary or professional ambition, was a very far cry from Robert's. It is Alberto's sister, Monica, a lighthouse-keeper and artist, who collects Robert from prison at the end of his term; and together they make the journey to her lighthouse in the Basque country, where they are to scatter Alberto's ashes to the sea. But to do so, the wind must be southerly. While they are waiting for the wind to change, they must live alongside each other in the lighthouse; under the long shade cast by their dead best friend, and brother.
