The Swell

A heavy storm passes along Western Europe. When the Belgian prime minister decides to evacuate the coast of Belgium, the Dutch prime minister is faced with a major dilemma: evacuate and abandon the Randstad, or wait for the storm to pass. The Dutch family Wienesse decides to flee. Despite the evacuation plan the Belgian Sonja, her mother and children decide to stay put in their cottage by the sea. Then the storm hits.

The coastal regions of Belgium and the Netherlands quickly flood now that the dikes are broken. In addition, the highways in the Randstad are congested because of the uncoordinated evacuation towards higher ground. The car of the Wienesse family gets stuck in a meadow 6 meters below sea level. When they are forced to pursuit their journey by foot, the family gets separated. In a Rotterdam jail the water is rising rapidly. While the prisoners revolt, prison guard Samir discovers that the Belgian inmate Ronnie is still in solitary confinement.

The day after the storm the damage is visible: the water is 2.5 meters high in the coastal region, and tens of thousands of people are missing. While Prime Minister Kreuger is evacuated by helicopter, the people that stayed behind have to rescue themselves. The old Mr.Stein has offered the young Kimmy shelter, but their food and water is running low quickly. Further down in prison some of the prisoners are building a raft for their escape. Sonja and Manu go out with a raft in search of daughter Femke, as well as food and medicine. They quickly realize the only things left in the deserted Oostende are nothing but looters and corpses.

While Ronnie and Samir are paddling their way out of a flooded Rotterdam, Prime Minister Kreuger is already working on reconstruction. He travels to Brussels to negotiate the distribution of the European emergency support. He does not accept the plan his Belgian colleague Verbeke presents. The pressure on the coalition, and Kreuger, increases. Meanwhile, Marion can hardly cope with the uncertainty about the welfare of her missing husband and daughter.

Both Ronnie and Samir are on dry land in search of their families. Now that the refugees’ camps are organized and families are re-united, a Thanksgiving Day is held. Also on the farm of William and Madelief Wienesse preparations are in full swing. But though the storm has long passed, the relationship between Marion and Robert is still in heavy weather. In addition, tensions run high between Marion and Madelief. While Kreuger is in the hospital’s CCU, Deputy Prime Minister Wolbers sets out a different course than set up by Kreuger. She takes a decision for the future of the Netherlands, which has far-reaching consequences.

The water moves away and slowly the future looks bright again: Ronnie wants to take his family abroad, Stein searches for Kimmy with good news about her mother. When Marion and Robert decide to stay together for their daughters, Naomi and Britt both decided they want to live elsewhere. Now they are faced with the choice of what their future, together or alone, will look like. Kreuger develops a revolutionary plan for the future of the Netherlands. Although he has many opponents, Kreuger is determined this time to follow his heart and intuition. Samir sees no future for himself. For him it has becoming increasingly clear: The Prime Minister is responsible for his loss!