A fat, dreamy child, disappointing to his famous berserker father, Berki is given the mocking name Beowulf by his fellow youths. His love for the maiden Hygd drives him to his first heroic contest, in the course of which he is swept up by the wild passions of the sea-gods ninth daughter. Coming back from the sea's depths to the Geatish court, Beowulf discovers that he is no longer an object of mockery: his troll-like size, strength, and the lingering touch of the Otherworld upon him make him feared where he was once despised. Now Beowulf's true strife lies before him: the struggle to remain human among humans while accepting the sorrows and loneliness of his Otherworldly nature; to use his monster's strength to defend the earth from the ravages of troll and dragon; and to stand, at last, like a true king for the folk who once thought him worthless.