World War Two has ended a few years earlier and the Cold War is starting when Brett Manning is sent to do some business in the timber trade in Archangel. But on his way, in the thick fog and darkness of the Barents Sea, disaster strikes and his ship is run down by a much larger vessel. Only Brett and one other man are picked up, and the two survivors now find themselves on board a Russian freighter bound for a secret destination. Slowly it dawns on Brett and his companion that they now know too much for their own good and that their very lives are in danger, since they can never be allowed to carry away the information that has by force of circumstances come into their possession. Their only hope lies in escape. But how does one escape from a ship at sea?