In this haunting and evocative retelling of a true story from the Bastøy Boys Home in Norway, 17-year-old Erling, a rumored murderer, arrives to the infamous correctional facility and immediately clashes with its governor (Skarsgård), who believes in manual labor, rigid discipline, and harsh punishment. Resisting this abuse, Erling rouses the rest of the boys to fight back, but when a tragedy occurs, he leads his comrades in a vicious rebellion that brings them head to head with no less than the Norwegian Army.