Empty Nets

Amir and Narges dream of building a life together in northern Iran. For now, the unmarried couple can only meet in secret. According to Iranian tradition, a dowry must be paid in order to ask Narges's family for her hand in marriage. However, the amount is too high for Amir, who lives with his mother in modest circumstances. When Amir loses his job as a waiter, the future he had hoped for with Narges seems to slip further and further out of reach. And then a wealthy young man from Tehran begins courting Narges as well... Desperate, Amir takes a job with a fishing crew on the rugged coast of the Caspian Sea. Together with Omid, a fellow young man with whom Amir shares a spartan living quarters, he initially feels lost among the group of older fishermen who enforce a strict hierarchy. It is a harsh environment marked by grueling physical labor and meager pay. Every day, Amir wades through the cold sea to free tangled nets from plastic waste caught in them. But in the darkness of night, another, far more lucrative side business flourishes: illegal caviar. So Amir soon joins a gang of poachers who catch and slaughter endangered sturgeon at night. Bit by bit, he finds himself drawn into a criminal parallel world with its own set of rules and laws. But the more Amir becomes entangled in these illegal activities, the further he drifts from Narges and the hope of a future together. Eventually, he must choose between her and a different life.