Antarctica

In February 1958, the Second Cross-Winter Expedition sets sail aboard the icebreaker Sōya to relieve the 11-man First Cross-Winter Expedition at Showa Base. The plan is to take over and restore operations at the base, which has been left to the first team. However, brutal weather prevents Sōya from approaching closely enough to complete the handover, leaving Showa Base unmanned.

The ice and storms prevent the Sōya from delivering the handover, forcing the base to be left without a relief crew. The situation leaves the Showa Base vulnerable and awaiting a rescue that cannot realistically be attempted immediately. The crew on Sōya weighs options but the weather and fuel constraints make a safe handover impossible.

With the base unmanned, the team fears for the 15 Sakhalin huskies left chained at Showa. They discover there is only about a week of dog food remaining, and rescue options are limited by fuel and drinking-water shortages. The situation becomes a moral and logistical crisis as winter tightens its grip.

Eight of the fifteen sled dogs—Riki, Anko, Shiro, Jakku, Deri, Kuma, Taro, and Jiro—break loose and vanish into the frozen wilderness. The remaining seven dogs are left chained and increasingly vulnerable as conditions worsen. The base personnel can only watch and hope for the best from a distance.

As the eight escapees disappear into the vast ice, the seven remaining chained dogs begin to starve, their chances of survival shrinking with each passing day. The abandonment by their packmates compounds the harshness of the environment. Rescue seems increasingly unlikely as supplies dwindle.

The eight freed dogs survive by adapting to the brutal conditions, hunting penguins and seals on the ice shelves and even scavenging seal excrement for nourishment. Months pass as they roam the icy landscape, with most of the group either dying or fading into the unknown. Their resilience becomes the central mystery of the tale.

Riki sustains fatal injuries from a killer whale while attempting to shield Taro and Jiro, demonstrating the fog of war against nature in the frozen expanse. The dog’s sacrifice underlines the peril that all eight face as they endure the Antarctic winter. The loss adds a somber note to the dogs’ survival story.

Anko and Deri fall through thinning ice and drown in the freezing waters, further reducing the already diminished group. The remaining dogs press on, navigating a landscape where every step could be life-or-death. The sea and ice continue to test their limits.

Shiro is lost after tumbling from a cliff, a stark reminder of the ever-present dangers of the Antarctic terrain. The death thins the surviving group and leaves the fate of the team even more uncertain. The harsh environment shows little mercy to the animals as well as the humans who study or care for them.

Jakku and Kuma drift from the pack and vanish into the vast wilderness, their fates unrevealed. The remaining dogs continue to endure the remote and unforgiving conditions, a testament to the unpredictable nature of survival in Antarctica. The mystery of their disappearance lingers as winter deepens.

Eleven months later, Kitagawa, a dog-handler from the first expedition, returns with the Third Cross-Winter Expedition to bury the seven chained dogs. He, along with Ushioda and Ochi, recover the frozen corpses, but are surprised to find that eight others have broken loose and survived, transforming the narrative of loss into a tale of endurance.

At the base, the rescuers are greeted warmly by Taro and Jiro, brothers who were born in Antarctica and survived the ordeal with the other eight. It remains unknown precisely how they endured the extreme conditions for nearly a year. The director-writer of the film uses available data plus imagination to reconstruct the dogs’ struggle and survival under impossibly harsh circumstances.