Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited island in the world. This volcanic landmass is too steep for an airport, so anyone who wants to get there must make an approximately nine-day journey by boat. Parisian doctor Loran Bonnardot has been visiting the island for 30 years and plans to settle there permanently. Before he can do that, though, the Tristan da Cunha Island Council must approve his application. This means Bonnardot will have to spend a year proving that he can integrate into the close-knit community of some 230 men and women.
Is Tristan da Cunha really the utopia Bonnardot believes he has found, and will he ever truly be accepted? In this blend of documentary and fiction, Bonnardot delves into a world that sometimes seems like a dream. With his inseparable companion, a penguin, he finds his way through the wilderness and the easygoing community of Tristan da Cunha. But even paradise is not without its troubles: archival footage of the evacuation of Tristan da Cunha residents in 1961, when the volcano erupted, fits seamlessly into this extraordinary story about isolation and belonging.
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