Three navy veterans drift into smuggling in the bleak economic climate of post-World War II Britain. Initially they carry only innocuous contraband items like wine, which are in short supply on the English black market, but through the greed and arrogance of George Hoskins, one of trio, they get involved with the corrupt Major Fordyce, who brings them higher-risk cargoes like counterfeit currency and automatic weapons. At first, Bill Randall, skipper of the 1087, compromises his conscience by turning a blind eye to the morality their actions, but has a crisis of conscience when he discovers that the nervous, suspicious-looking man they smuggled across the channel is a child murderer and apparent pedophile. He and Birdie, the ship's mechanic, decide that they've had enough.