Aboard the Norwegian whaling ship Thorgrim, the Captain announces to the Mate, Sigurd, that he will allow him to take the second shot at the next whale they hunt and if there is a third whale, he will be permitted to take the first shot. Sigurd, ambitious for promotion to gunner on the whaling ship, is delighted and can scarcely contain his impatience and excitement. But as they approach a pod of feeding "finhval" the captain changes his mind and throws the ship into an extraordinary whale hunt which shocks every member of the crew to the very core.