Al Viola's adaptation of Graham Billing's novel about how a man's outlook on life is changed by his harsh surroundings. Richard Forbush (John Hurt), a shallow man and philanderer, wants to win back the affections of his girlfriend Tara (Haley Mills) and decides that moving to the Antarctic to study the life-cycle of penguins is just the way to impress her. Whilst there he embarks on a solitary struggle of survival and having begun to deeply admire the penguins uses this knowledge to keep himself alive.