An ornithologist (Hayden) goes on a field trip to a deserted island near the mainland with his wife (McNally) and small son, and is joined by the wife's sister (Strasberg), who is getting over an abortion; later, an escaped convict (Whitman) is discovered. A situation which may seem naturalistic enough, but the form never is: incidents are isolated, cross-relations are oblique, emotions are unexplained. And as the narrative gradually coheres, Guerra daringly undercuts it with a series of disturbing emphases. As haunting and ambiguous as anything of Herzog's.