During the height of the Cold War, the US nuclear submarine USS Tigerfish, captained by Commander James Farraday, is sent on a secret mission to a location near the North Pole. Their mission, ostensibly, is to rescue survivors from Ice Station Zebra, a British weather research station, but it is quite clear that it is more than that. The presence of the shadowy, enigmatic Mr. Jones, a British civilian who has control over the mission, makes it clear that something larger is afoot. Then the submarine is sabotaged - there is clearly a Russian spy on board.—grantss