In 1950 in the North Atlantic west of Ireland the destinies of two ships fuse. One, an English tramp, breaks apart in a winter storm. Five survivors cling to the wreckage. An officer of a nearby liner is at the helm of a boat that must battle its way through the mountainous waves in a desperate attempt to reach the castaways. In this evocation of the life of the sea, the author has created a world of isolation, frailty and endurance whose overarching theme is the test of courage.