In 1960, Pete Brennan returns from military service to northern Minnesota to work on his father's commercial fishing boat. On his first day back, he learns that the fishing operation and the mink farm it supports are under threat from new technology, state legislators and animal rights activists. Facing personal injury and challenges to the family businesses, Pete must cope with his brother Wayne's alcoholism, his brother Lance's indifference, and his father's declining health. Meanwhile, the women in the Brennan family must contend with the physical and emotional fallout from these men's lives. As tensions rise, Pete's son Jay is critically injured under Wayne's son's watch, forcing the entire family to confront their dilemmas and make difficult choices about their future.