Rahmat rows from island to island collecting tears of people who believe he has to power to absolve the dead of their sins (although they have no idea exactly what he does with the tears); the excess of which has been the cause attributed to the increasing saltiness of the sea. While rowing a body out to sea, Rahmat ends up acquiring a young traveling companion in search of his missing father. Posing as Rahmat's deaf and dumb son (so as not to violate the confidences of Rahmat's clients), the boy accompanies Rahmat on his journeys during which they encounter an old woman (who believes the discover of her dead husband's shoe washed up on the beach is a good omen), a virgin forced to become a bride to the sea, a dwarf who must descend into a well carrying petitions (bottled breaths of the villagers) to a fairy before the sun sets, and an artist temporarily blinded and disowned by his family for painting the sea red.

Despite the film's focus on superstitions and religious beliefs, THE WHITE MEADOWS is not a film about magic realism. We are offered no visual evidence of the success of the villagers' appeals to fairies and gods, only the tragic effects of practices believed to have been botched (while others remain to be seen, but outside of the perspective of the protagonist and thus the audience); and the revelation of what Rahmat does with the tears is open to interpretation but most of them (including my own) will be more cynical than optimistic.