In a small river valley, a teenage boy shoots rabbits and dreams of boats. Far away a devastating war is being waged, but here seasons pass, an orchard bears fruit, and an array of animals - some ordinary, some strange - come and go. The land on which Ned and his family live offers a cycle of death and rebirth, feast and famine. In Ned's eyes, heroism and carefully measured violence are part of what it means to be a man. Kindness is a silent thing, a matter of small actions not spoken about. While Ned waits and hopes for his brothers to return from service overseas, he works ever more intently for the money that may buy him the means to sail the river...