Samuel’s home port is in Gaspesia, eastern Quebec, in Saint-Maxime-du-Mont-Louis. It is winter and the fishing boats have been put into dry dock. Samuel makes the most of this respite to implement his career plan. He wants to buy the boat from Clément, who is retiring, and become his own captain. Samuel is ambitious and passionate. Despite the obvious difficulties represented by such a project today, the strengthening of regulations, quotas and diminishing resources, he persists with his idea. Few young people in his village have chosen to stay like him and even fewer have chosen to take over a traditional activity that is jeopardised these days.

Homeport

After a 20-year absence, Noriko returns to Nagasaki to clear out her mother’s home. In doing so, she finds letters that reveal a family secret intertwined with the memory of the peninsular town’s inhabitants. In reconstructing this family story, Okurimono gradually develops into a grace-filled meditation on the passage of time and the legacy we leave behind.