 A man is abducted from the streets of London and transported via secret flights to an unknown country. Held in solitary confinement and cut off from the outside world, he is plunged into a lawless nightmare of detention without trial, interrogation and torture. Returned without explanation to the UK many months later, he is left to pick up the pieces of a shattered life in a world he no longer recognises. Lt. Commander Finchhaven (David Niven), a ghostly relic from the First World War, he had fallen down dead drunk on his first assignment and been consigned from the great beyond to sail the seas until a further opportunity arises to redeem his actions. During the Second World War, he is encountered by a quartet of American seamen that includes Lt. Morton Krim (Alan Alda) and cook W.J. Oglethorpe (Mickey Rooney). A deal is completed whereby the men will help re-float Finchhaven s command in return for a passage to Australia. They raid a village to secure batteries for the engine and come upon the feisty Jennifer Wilson (Faye Dunaway) who offers them aid in return for a passage with the crew. Eventually they reach the open sea. Finchhaven s ghostly status is revealed and Lt. Krim and Jennifer help him to sink a Japanese cruiser.