In this dark, foreboding sea story, a veteran sea captain abducts his niece for what he believes is his last chance at love. As the sad demon of the ocean Klabautermanden watches the passing of doomed ships, the niece awakens in her uncle's cabin. She makes him marry her but never allows the tyrannical captain to ever touch her. For eight years, the ship never docks as the malnourished crew wishes for death. The woman has a child by another man and the captain watches in horror as she makes friends easily while he is reviled by his superstitious crew.