Three seamen aboard the vessel Sandy Hook pull off a shady operation that clings to the edge of Arctic ambition. At the center are Tom Jansen, Lars, and Sverre, a tight-knit trio whose ferrying of tourists on a polar bear safari masks more dangerous schemes. The voyage begins with a glimmer of normalcy, but things tighten around them when their world narrows to money, risk, and the chill of the polar winds. Soon, in Longyearbyen, the crew’s life bleeds into the town’s politics and the heavy Soviet presence that shadows Svalbard, a mood underscored when Eva Gjelseth—Tom’s girlfriend—is introduced during a pub scene that feels like a brief window into a larger, fraught reality.
A plan forms that could redefine their fortunes. [Lars] proposes freight in a bulldozer to the mainland from Sarstangen, and the men discuss insurance fraud as a cover. They are told to dump the bulldozer mid-journey, but their ambitions twist this directive: they intend to sell the machine on Greenland, turning a disaster into a dangerous windfall. Their fragile operation is shadowed by authority, as Tom is summoned to see Governor Bache, who warns that he will be watching their every move.
The bulldozer completes its delivery, and the crew fingers their next move. They report to Isfjord Radio that a storm forced them off course, yet they deliberately stray from the expected route to avoid an early return to port. Real danger soon follows as they weather genuine storms and anchor at a remote island, Kjerulføya, north of Nordaustlandet. What should be a routine stop becomes a nerve-wracking detour into something more perilous as they venture ashore for supplies and instead stumble upon a cable that leads them to a Soviet bearing station.
Their presence is detected by Russians, and when fired upon they return fire, killing a Russian and wounding Sverre. The escape becomes a test of improvisation and nerve as they blend with the nearby fishing fleet to avoid pursuit. Yet an armed-looking Aeroflot helicopter—which initially seems civilian—displays its true menace, opening fire on the ship. The crew fights back and manages to destroy the helicopter with a incendiary firebomb, a brutal reminder of how quickly the lines between crime, war, and survival blur.
The journey continues toward Kapp Dufferin, where the Sandy Hook drops anchor once more. Tom rows ashore for supplies, but the danger is far from over: a Soviet helicopter bombs their vessel, killing [Lars] and [Sverre] in a sudden, devastating blow. The remaining crew member must press on, and Tom undertakes a grueling trek across Spitsbergen to reach Longyearbyen, enduring a grueling march until he arrives at a closed mine and ascends an aerial tramway to coal that feeds the town’s life.
Back in the capital, Tom wakes in a hospital beside the now-fateful Governor Bache. His account of the ship’s sinking is met with skepticism, and he is sent to Oslo for interrogations by a United States colonel and other personnel. In a climactic scene at the Holmenkollen Park Hotel, the Soviet ambassador and a Norwegian minister debate the implications should the public learn the truth. The offer of a new identity and a job on a foreign trade vessel presents a glimmer of security, and Tom seizes the opportunity by slipping away during a carnival parade.
Two endings were filmed. One extends a tense chase that culminates in a rendezvous with Eva; the other narrows the pursuit but preserves the same fateful consequence: Tom is killed in the end. The ultimate question—whether his death is the result of Soviet or American intelligence—remains deliberately unresolved, leaving a chilling ambiguity that mirrors the era’s tangled politics and the perilous loneliness of the Arctic frontier.
