A Scottish trawler - ironically named "Providence" - unloads at a Belgian port. The Skipper (Gary Lewis), while remaining nominally in charge, has given over responsibility for all financial dealings to his son Sean (Martin Compston), who will one day inherit the boat. But once again, the catch is so small that it won't pay the bills, so Sean, financially desperate and unwilling to look like a failure in the eyes of his father, makes a deal with the devil: he will smuggle Chinese migrants across the North Sea into the United Kingdom.