Traumatized by a fishing boat accident many years before Joe Gastineau has given up his hopes for a life beyond the odd jobs he takes to support himself. That quickly changes when nomadic club singer Donna de Angelo and her troubled teen-age daughter enter Joe's life. Both mother and daughter fall for Joe increasing the friction between them. The tension continues to build when Joe invites them on a pleasure cruise up the Alaskan coast discovering too late that the trip may cost them their lives.