Trama

A man stranded in the Arctic after a plane crash must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown.

A man stranded in the Arctic after a plane crash must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown in hopes of making it out alive.—Bleecker Street

After a plane crash, a man fights to survive stranded alone in Arctic. When he sees a helicopter, he sees the chance to be saved but the helicopter also crashes and he rescues a wounded woman from the debris. After a long period, he decides to embark in a journey with the woman with hope to find salvation or death.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

After his plane crashes in the frozen Arctic, the solo pilot initially decides to stay with his plane. However, after a rescue attempt fails he is left with a badly injured person to care for, and she needs medical attention urgently. He decides to set out, with his patient, for the nearest likely source of help.—grantss

Overgard (Mads Mikkelsen) is stranded in the Arctic Circle waiting for rescue, living in his crashed plane. His daily routine consists of checking fishing lines (he lays down all the captured fish neatly in his carry basket, covered with a base of ice for long term storage), mapping his surroundings and running a distress beacon powered by a hand-crank dynamo (which he powers on at a nearby peak at the same time every day). From the peak, Overgard can see a long distance in all directions and finds a desolate landscape. Overgard leaves the basket of fish next to the ice holes and doesn't bring it back to the plane.

He has also chiseled a huge "SOS" sign in the snow next to his plane. The sign is visible from the sky as Overgard has dug the snow down to the level of the mountain level, which is dark black in color. The goes daily to a stack of stones which indicates a grave of the passenger who was traveling with Overgard in the plane.

All the actions indicate the Overgard is a very meticulous person, organized and diligent. He plans for the unanticipated issues in future and carries out all the tasks as per a set schedule, giving appropriate attention to each. The inside of the plane is relatively intact and provides a warm refuge from the icy and windy conditions outside. Overgard has to eat raw fish to survive as he is out of any source of heat.

He has already lost 2-3 toes to frostbite. One day, his supply of fish (which he has painfully gathered via ice fishing in the icy waters) is raided by a polar bear. The basket is broken and the fish all gone. Luckily, Overgard had hidden an ice box under the ice, and stored 3 fish in that, which becomes his emergency rations.

Overgard was at the peak with his beacon, just as a storm rolls in. Before leaving, for a brief moment, Overgard sees the red light of the beacon turn green meaning someone had received the signal and had acknowledged it.

A helicopter responds to his beacon and attempts to land (right in the middle of a raging ice storm), but crashes. Overgard is devastated as he helplessly watches his moment of joy turning to that of complete horror. The pilot (Tintrinai Thikhasuk) is killed and the female passenger (Maria Thelma Smaradottir), is severely injured and unconscious. Overgard puts staplers on her wound (a wide gash in her belly, with the medical kit he finds on board the helicopter) dresses her wound and spends the night inside the helicopter as the storm was still raging outside. He finds some ready to eat noodles in the helicopter and devours it raw.

The next morning, Overgard fashions a sled out of the helicopter door and leaves a message on the side of the copter saying 2 people are alive due south. She does not speak English (she is Thai national) and only proves her alertness by squeezing his hand.

Overgard returns to the wreckage of the downed helicopter to bury the dead pilot and finds some food, a propane cooking stove, medical equipment, a sled (which was hidden in the back of the helicopter), a map of the area which indicates that the nearest station is just too far away and a photo of the woman, the pilot and their child, which he brings back for her. On the map he locates a seasonal refuge that appears to be a few days' trek away.

When the woman's condition does not improve after several days and the antibiotics running low, he decides he must risk the journey to the refuge to seek rescue, by a direct route. He secures the woman to the sledge and drags her behind him. In 3 days, he reaches a flag position he had planted several months ago, and was at the outermost reaches of where he had been able to venture so far.

He runs into a steep slope not indicated on the map, climbs it alone and sees a relatively smooth path in front of him, but fails three times in trying to hoist the woman up using ropes. He therefore decides he must take the longer route, around the icy outcrops, aware that this roundabout trek will add at least three days (it will now take him 5 additional days instead of 2 to reach the station) to his sledge-hauling trek. The flat path is exposed to strong headwinds.

When they take refuge one night in a cave, a polar bear is attracted to the scent of cooking fish. He drives the bear off with a distress flare (one of only 2). The next day the woman's condition worsens & he is beginning to get frostbite in his fingers. Assuming her to be dead or near death (as she does not squeeze his fingers), he abandons her to continue his journey alone but leaves her with the photo of her family.

Shortly afterwards he falls in a crevasse and is knocked unconscious. He awakens to find himself at the bottom of a cavern with one of his legs trapped under a boulder. He injures it (with a deep gash behind his calf) in repeated efforts to tug it free, and finally manages to crawl out of the cavern and back to the surface. Returning to the woman's sled, he finds that she is still alive, weeps in apology, and, despite his injured leg, sets his mind to taking her with him again.

Nearly at the end of his strength, he sees a helicopter in the distance. He lights his remaining flare but does not seem to attract the attention of the two men from the landed helicopter crew. Desperate, he sets on fire his parka, the only thing between him and freezing if the crew miss his signal, and then waves it wildly, but apparently to no avail. The helicopter takes off and disappears behind a mountain. Exhausted, he lies down next to the woman, takes her hand and prepares to meet his fate. He closes his eyes as the helicopter lands behind them.