morvern callar (samantha morton) is a young woman in a small port town in scotland. she wakes on christmas morning to discover that her boyfriend has killed himself, leaving a suicide note, mix tape, and the manuscript of his unpublished novel behind. his novel is dedicated to her and she decides to erase his name and puts her own name on the novel and sends it to the publisher recommended by her boyfriend. instead of arranging a funeral with the money on his account, as requested by him, she cuts his body up and buries it in the mountains. with the money she then escapes her work stacking fruit in the groceries section of the local supermarket and goes to almería, costa del sol, with her best friend lanna (kathleen mcdermott). as they go out and party she feels she's in a different mood to lanna and leaves her, so she can meet the publishers who have come to meet her in spain. she plays the role of a writer and receives an advance on the novel for £100,000. back in scotland she tries to convince lanna to come with her to the big world, but lanna refuses and leaves (in spain lanna has met a guy from leeds who plans to visit her in scotland). morvern collects her suitcase and goes to the railway station.