The CAPTAIN of a 19th century whaleship is persuaded by the devilish Officer COLFAX to overhunt the sea, and in consequence loses to the sea his young daughter CELIA, the embodiment of his conscience. Three years later he accepts an offer to lead a walrus hunt, believing it will somehow reconnect him with Celia. On the journey to Alaska, the Captain engages in a power struggle with Colfax, which ends in a mutiny and sends him overboard.
Saved by five man-eating walruses, called "walrus-men," the Captain recovers on an island under the care of a unique Inuit (Eskimo) tribe. He is told the myth of the walrus-men, in which the release of tears, in response to overhunting, leads to the formation of tusks for taking action. During this time, Colfax and his men wipe out the islanders' means of survival, the 3,000 walruses that come to their cove each summer. Pressure mounts on the Captain as the islanders rely on him to provide for them, and when an ominous bottle of rum from Colfax’s ship washes ashore, things spiral out of control on the island till the Captain is accused of being a man-eater.
Outcast in the freezing cold, he harpoons his long-lost daughter (a seal possessed by her spirit) and learns how a hunter should consider his prey: with conscience. With tears that have frozen into metaphorical tusks, the Captain goes on to defend the island women in a battle against Colfax’s lustful crew, and though blood stains the shores, walruses eventually return to the island, along with hope for its future.
