Capt. Edwin Rummill (James Mason) is eager to prove himself after being made a ship's captain for the first time in his career. One of his earliest decisions has a troublesome impact on his freighter's voyage from New Zealand - he allows the alluring wife (Dorothy Dandridge) of the ship's cook to sail with the otherwise all-male crew. More tensions also take shape. Crewmembers launch a violent mutiny that will leave many men dead and survivors adrift in a lifeboat, including Capt. Rummill who comes up with a desperate plan to reboard and retake the ship.