In 1615, three Basque whaling ships arrived off the coast of Iceland. Unfortunately, when they were preparing to leave, the ships sank and the crew remained in Iceland, where tensions soon arose with the locals.

In June 1615, 86 Basque whalers, captained by Martín de Villafranca, Pedro de Aguirre and Esteban de Tellería, sailed to the cold waters of Northern Iceland, where they were involved in the country's darkest episode - the biggest massacre in Iceland's history. Thirty-two basque whalers were brutally murdered. Why did it happen? 'The Killing of the Basque Whalers' follows the story of a group of archaeologists who traveled to Iceland four centuries later looking for clues that may help to understand the massacre.