As the American newspaper reporter H.R. makes his way across the Atlantic to rendezvous with a Russian icebreaker, the now-stranded crew of the airship Italia prepare for an extended stay on the drifting icepack where they've crashed. Difficulties arise on both fronts as H.R. finds day-to-day life challenging aboard a foreign vessel, while on the ice, fissures begin to form among the marooned crewmen.