The film tells the story of a wealthy Icelandic family, owners of a fish industry company in a small Icelandic coastal town, and various family issues they have to deal with.

The website's consensus reads, "This look at a fraught family reunion should be easily relatable, but The Sea drowns viewers in melodrama when it should be carrying them toward darkly comedic shores.

"[1] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 52 out of 100, which is based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

[2] The film won eight awards at the Edda Awards, Iceland in 2002 (Best Actor for Gunnar Eyjólfsson, Best Actress for Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Sigurður Skúlason, Best Supporting Actress for Herdís Þorvaldsdóttir, Film of the Year and Professional Category: Sound/Vision), where it was also nominated for 4 more awards.

In 2003, it won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Istanbul International Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Golden Tulip, and the Audience Award at the Tromsø International Film Festival in Norway.