Embarking on an ill-fated whaling voyage to the Arctic, disgraced ex-army surgeon Patrick Sumner finds no refuge from his past as he encounters the brutish harpooner Henry Drax. Amid the relentless bleakness of their ship, the Volunteer, a brutal murder compels Sumner into a dire struggle for survival against nature's harrowing forces and man's darkest inclinations. As the arctic winter closes in, the line between predator and prey blurs, raising the critical question of who will emerge alive when the ice thaws.