Thomas lives with his mother on the fictional coastal town of Longferry, England. As a seascraper, he earns a meagre living by using a horse-drawn cart to trawl for shrimp on the beach. He then sells his daily catch at a local market. At only twenty years old, Thomas must endure this physically demanding work to eke out a living for himself and his mother, but he has dreams of becoming a folk singer. When a charismatic American film director arrives and shakes up his monotonous life, Thomas glimpses a different future beyond his inherited labor and secret folk-singing dreams.