While traveling to South Africa, former American Navy officer Duncan Craig (Alan Ladd) meets Judie Nordahl (Joan Tetzel), a woman investigating her father's mysterious death aboard a whaling ship in Antarctic waters. Duncan signs on to work as first mate aboard Judie's expedition to Antarctica, where he becomes suspicious of John Bland (Basil Sydney), Judie's father's former business partner, and his son, Erik (Stanley Baker), who is also Judie's fiancé.