Nantucket. The little island off the east coast of the United States is the capital of American whaling in 1850. Sailors, traders, harpooners - they all hope to make big money on land or on a whaler - and if not, then at least to have big adventures. One of them is Ishmael (Charlie Cox), who wanders through the bustling harbour in search of a whaling boat that will take him out to sea. Together with the homeless boy Pip (Daniel Gordon) and the fear-inspiring Polynesian harpooner Queequeg (Raoul Trujillo), he signs on as a crew member of the Pequod.