 For personal and humanitarian reasons, Edoardo, a Ligurian sea captain, agrees to run a shipment of arms to Bosnian rebels for a shady Russian in Toulon who calls himself Riffaud. Edoardo s lover Clara wants him to quit the sea and Riffaud s wife warns Edoardo not to trust her husband, but Edoardo takes the job anyway. Sailing up the Adriatic, the crew threatens mutiny when they learn they must dock in a war zone. Once in port, little goes as Riffaud promised, and Edoardo must travel with a translator to the rebels  mountain stronghold to get payment for the crew. The war is all around them as Clara waits at home and the translator begs passage to Italy.