The lines between myth and reality become increasingly blurred in Defenders. When Iceland was threatened with invasion by Germany in World War II, the allies decide to step in. Defenders follows three American GIs who are shipwrecked on the remote island of Hrisey off Iceland’s northern coast. The stranded GIs find themselves with missing weapons, few supplies, and a broken radio. They realize they must rely on the locals for survival but, like current-day warfare, the locals fear the loss of their culture, their women, and their safety with the presence of foreigners on their land.

Iceland has endured and survived waves of invaders, occupiers, and pirates that have come and gone, but the descendants of its original settlers are still there. It’s a land of myth where spirituality connects the population to its often harsh and unrelenting nature. In Defenders, the soldiers, Icelanders, and the land itself are forced to ask just who is defending whom.