Nineteen-year-old merchant seaman Brian Clarke is sure the U-boats will never hit home; he won't be the one to die. But when his ship is torpedoed in the middle of the Atlantic, he quickly learns the meaning of fear. Adrift in a lifeboat with precious little to sustain the survivors, the odds of making shore gradually lengthen. Under an unrelenting sun, slowly dying of thirst, he watches in horror as his shipmates begin to abandon hope and turn to in-fighting. Except for Joe. In refusing to renounce integrity and compassion, he keeps faith with their humanity, helping Brian through an endurance test of near-impossible proportions. And in return, Brian finds himself duty-bound to honour a promise when he returns. Based on a true incident in World War II.