A small whaling schooner with an undercrewed complement sails the southern oceans; after a disappointing campaign its captain takes aboard a mother, her young son, a relative, and a longtime servant for the long voyage home. The passage turns perilous as whales, storms, and discord lead to shipwreck and desperate survival. The narrative traces the survivors’ efforts to endure and rescue one another, encounters with slave traders, and the coming-of-age of a teenage apprentice who must assume command and confront both moral and nautical challenges.