Plot
Syracuse (Colin Farrell), called "Circus", is an Irish fisherman and former drunk, with a daughter named Annie, who is suffering from kidney failure and uses a motorised wheelchair, and an alcoholic ex-wife named Maura. One day, he finds a young woman (Alicja Bachleda-Curus) called Ondine in his net, whom he resuscitates. The woman is disoriented, but refuses hospitalisation and doesn't want to be seen by people, so Syracuse takes her to his deceased mother’s house.
Later, at dialysis, he tells Annie a story about a fisherman who pulled in his nets and discovered a woman. Annie believes the woman in the net is a selkie. Syracuse believes the woman brings him luck as every time she sings a song, his fishing net comes up full of fish and lobsters. A man is seen lurking around the docks seemingly looking for someone or something. Maura's current boyfriend, Alex dies in a car crash while driving drunk with her. At the hospital, Syracuse learns that Alex was carrying a donor card, and who's kidneys are the right match for Annie's transplant operation. At Alex's funeral, Maura insists Syracuse has a drink with her in his honor, causing him to fall off the wagon and drink excessively.
It is later revealed that Ondine is actually a Romanian drug mule and the man lurking around the docks is the man Ondine works for (her "pește"), after Syracuse discovers the song she sang was well known song from Romania . The man finds Ondine and wants the backpack (full of drugs) she lost at sea while trying to evade the Coast Guard (which is why Syracuse found Ondine in the sea) After a violent confrontation at Syracuse's mother's cabin Ondine agrees to take the Romanians out to sea (the backpack is in the ocean inside a lobster trap)
As the Romanians are trying to get the trap, Ondine makes the Peste fall overboard by pulling on the rope he is standing on. Syracuse grabs the other one and dives into the water. The Peste drowns while trying to open the lobster trap, while the other one is brought back to the boat by Syracuse and is arrested ashore. In the end Syracuse marries Ondine so that she can stay in Ireland, but mostly because he and Annie love her.
Read more about this topic: Ondine (film)
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