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A family of four, isolated to guard a salt marsh next to a lighthouse, enjoys the pros and cons of life in a wetland. The children play alone with whatever nature itself can provide as a game, ignorant of what fear is: they chase on the shore, search for crabs, and use the iridescence from the light of the nearby lighthouse. As they discover the workings of the surrounding nature, their psychic habitat struggles to process the unfamiliar concepts of impending death (father) and impending life (mother), seemingly squeezed by a pair of pliers (the German word 'zange' of the title, which also applies to the crab's claw) that tightens and tightens to take away their innocence. Death and life in close succession lead the young siblings to early adolescence, which in turn will bring about early adulthood. Childhood dreams can easily become horrible nightmares, dealt with only by the comfort of another.
