A father-and-son rafting trip down a mountain river serves as the backdrop to an almost wordless story—measured, poetic—about the unique moment in this boy’s life when something intangible yet somehow anticipated reveals its meaning. The boy’s curiosity and desire for new experiences grow stronger than his fear of a world he does not fully grasp. The feeling of solitude and vulnerability he experiences despite his father’s presence foreshadows his transformation. 
Long static sequences create the appearance of mundane holiday activities. Yet the omnipresent natural world, in which the dominant image is that of the flowing river, gives rise to a tension that is as effective as it is unexplainable. When the danger materializes, the boy appears prepared for it. But nothing will ever be the same as before.