The American destroyer USS ''Bedford'' (DLG-113) detects a Soviet Union submarine in the GIUK gap near the Greenland coast. Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union are not at war, Captain (United States O-6) Eric Finlander (Richard Widmark) harries his prey mercilessly, while civilian photojournalist Ben Munceford (Sidney Poitier) and NATO naval advisor Kommodore (and ex-Second World War U-boat Kriegsmarine) Wolfgang Schrepke (Eric Portman), look on with mounting alarm.