 Stormy waves in the South China Sea wash a drunken captain, Charles Chinnough, off his ship just before it crashes on a reef. He s then rescued by a passing vessel. Two months later the former captain, now in disgrace, sails as a passenger on a ship commanded by Brendensen, the man who had been the first-mate on his last voyage. Tension quickly develops between these two, especially since both are now attracted to the same female passenger, Kim Mitchell. A typhoon forces Chinnough and Brendensen to work together to save the ship while, at the same time, new information comes to light about their previous voyage together.