Ingaló is helping her father on his small fishing boat, but he's an obstinate character and relations between them are tense. After a dance in the village which ends in a fight between the local people and crew of Matthildur ÍS 167, a visiting fishing boat, Ingaló and her younger brother leave home. Ingaló stays briefly in Reykjavík and has a short affair with Vilhjálmur, a man in his thirties. Sveinn has found a job on Matthildur and Ingaló is taken on as a cook. The fishing is poor and when the vessel breaks down it heads for home port, where the crew stays in derelict living quarters for seasonal workers. Ingaló finds out that Matthildur's owner and big wheel in town is none other than Vilhjálmur.

Um ihrem despotischen Vater zu entkommen, heuert die 19jährige Isländerin Ingalo als Köchin auf einem Kutter an. Auf See verliebt sie sich in den Matrosen Skuli. Die Besatzung arbeitet für einen Fischfabrikbesitzer, der sie schamlos ausbeutet. Mutig ruft Ingalo die Kollegen zum Streik auf.