While removing toxic waste from a dead zone in the Palestinian desert, the captain of Napoli is killed by local villagers whose land and families have been destroyed.Fully laden, Napoli limps off to Cyprus, but desperately needs a new master-and Heritage Mariner of London are requested to provide one.Recalled from his honeymoon, John Higgins is the only captain available.The Napoli has trouble written all over her.She's an ageing rust-bucket with a multi-racial crew, and the containers on board are filled with chemical and nuclear poison.Still, Higgins' orders are simple enough:just take her home to Naples.But when they arrive they find this is only the first of many ports to refuse the leper ship entry.With an increasingly mutinous crew, and acidic waste eating away at her insides, there seems nowhere left to run.