The weather is good, the ocean is beautiful, and the ship traveling from South Africa to Argentina is fast enough to outrun any submarine. But it's not fast enough to get away from a shipload of desperate passengers. It would have been a pleasant passage, but the accidental death of a child, attack by a German destroyer, and a murder made it otherwise. Hatred, distrust, rage, love, romance, and kindness all come together in an encounter with the enemy, and desperate people must take desperate measures to survive when they get caught up in a war that rages around the world.