It is 1943 and the battle of the Atlantic is being ferociously contested by the Allies and Hitler's Nazi Germany. In the storm-lashed waters off the north coast of Scotland a German commando group lands on the remote shores of North Cape Island. Bruno Schafer has personal orders from Admiral Dönitz to find a missing U boat captain who holds the secrets to Britain's new centimetric radar.

The islanders, remnants of a once thriving whaling community, know of the existence of the submarine commander from a pre-war association but deny that existence. Schafer knows they are lying and his search for the secrets to Britain's new weapon unravels a patchwork of intrigue, guilt and shame.

In a shattering race against time all that stands between success and failure for Schafer is the tenacious courage of two young people, Billy and Ailie, and an old whale catching boat, the Nordcaper.