Their purpose: to save refugees from drowning. For this, Axel Steier and his team from the Dresden sea-rescue NGO “Mission Lifeline” have worked tirelessly for years to collect donations. Together with two Spanish NGO’s, they finally manage to buy their own ship and set off to the Mediterranean. In his hometown Dresden, Axel’s idea finds many friends but just as many enemies. And then, the truth at sea – oil leakage, refugee boats sinking before their eyes, even gunfire by Libyan militia. For two years, we accompanied Axel and his team with our camera – even onto the ship just off the Libyan coast, where the struggle to save people from certain death ultimately also turns into a fight for the European idea.