SYNOPSIS

In the 1920s, Pogana (the name means “pagan” or “heathen”) is sold by her father to a silent and cruel sailor, who takes her to his island to care for his children and estate. Trapped amid hard work, raising children, the coldness of the sailor and the cruelty of the locals and their customs, Pogana has a hard time adjusting. After a tragic accident caused by the local doctor ends in the death of the youngest child, the sailor disappears at sea. From that moment on, the village considers the sailor dead, but Pogana does not agree. She tackles the childishness, gossip, and intolerance of the small environment. Pogana did not even get to marry the sailor, so the locals consider her an intruder, unwanted and a parasite. She must learn to fish so she can feed the children. As she goes to the shore every day to throw a net and wait to see if the sailor will return, she meets the keeper of the nearby lighthouse—a bitter war veteran who feels a magnetic, animalistic attraction towards the young widow, which is reciprocated. Rejected and lonely, the two find passion, comfort, and understanding in each other. While fishing, Pogana comes across a human bone in her net. Day after day, more bones begin to appear mysteriously when she hauls her net from the sea. She saves them all, believing the sea is returning the bones of her missing husband. Pogana refers to the old custom—the black wedding. She will marry her husband's bones to confirm her position. The locals are horrified, but Pogana succeeds in her plan—she buries the bones in the family grave and marries them on the spot. Finally, when she thinks she is independent, free, and master of her life, in good relations with her daughters and after she has taken control of the household, her husband, the sailor, appears. She has no choice but to dig up the bones and return to their old life. The sailor is having a hard time coming to terms with the new state of affairs, however. Realising Pogana and his children don't actually need him, he feels threatened, insecure, lost. Finally, he decides to send Pogana back to where he took her from. He loads her into the boat and returns her to the sea.