Set in a near future when water has become the most precious and dwindling resource on the planet. Water dictates everything from the macro of political policy to the micro of interpersonal family and romantic relationships.

The land has withered into something wretched. The dust has settled on a lonely, barren planet. The hardened survivors of the loss of Earth’s precious resources scrape and struggle. Ernest Holm (Michael Shannon) lives on this harsh frontier with his children, Jerome (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Mary (Elle Fanning). He defends his farm from bandits, works the supply routes, and hopes to rejuvenate the soil. But Mary’s boyfriend, Flem Lever (Nicholas Hoult), has grander designs; he wants Ernest’s land for himself and will go to any length to get it.