The reportage follows a group of Filipino fishermen who, amidst the escalating conflict between an increasingly assertive China and its neighbouring countries, act as blockade runners while fishing for ornamental and edible fish at the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The fishermen’s lives are marked by alcohol, gambling debts, growing overfishing, and the life-threatening nature of their work (decompression sickness). They are also affected by China's expansion, which denies them access to fishing grounds, engages in military posturing, and builds artificial islands around Taiwan as bases for jamming equipment. According to the Philippines, war is considered inevitable.