Six men and three women - against the sea and each other.

In the Atlantic during WWII, a ship and a German U-boat are involved in a battle and both are sunk. The survivors from the ship gather in one of the boats. They are from a variety of backgrounds: an international journalist, a rich businessman, the radio operator, a nurse, a steward, a sailor and an engineer with communist tendencies. Trouble starts when they pull a man out of the water who turns out to be from the U-boat. Later, the survivors are spotted by the German supply ship Willi had been steering them to, but before it can pick them up, it is sunk by an American warship. A frightened young German seaman boards the lifeboat, brandishing a gun. After he is disarmed, one of the survivors asks, "What should we do with him?"