When her mother died of an overdose, Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle Ferland) moved into an old farmhouse with her father, Noah (Jeff Bridges), a heroin addict rocker. To escape the solitude of her new home, Jeliza-Rose escapes into an imaginary world. Jeliza-Rose’s only company is four dolls heads until she meets Dickens (Brendan Fletcher), a young man minded like a ten years boy. Dressed in a wet suit, he spends his time hiding in a car carcass, considered as a "submarine", waiting to capture the giant shark. Dickens has an older sister, Dell (Janet McTeer), a sort of ghost dressed in black who constantly wear a veil of beekeeper.