When the cunning seafaring trader Gunnar, and his short-tempered, sword-wielding son, Harald Silkenhair, land in Trollsvik looking for a crew for a journey to Vinland, fifteen-year-old Peer, suspicious of their motives, reluctantly agrees to join them, mostly to watch over his friend Hilde who is eager to sail to the New World as companion to Gunnar's wife Astrid.