In small town Alaska, a news reporter recruits his ex-girlfriend - a Greenpeace volunteer - on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.
Drawn into the collaborative rescue work are several normally hostile factions: Inupiat whale hunters, a Greenpeace environmental activist, an oil executive, ambitious news reporters, the National Guard, the American president and politicians on the state, national and international levels. Also joining in the effort are two entrepreneurs from Minnesota, who provide de-icing machines to help keep the hole open. Finally an enormous Soviet ice-breaker ship arrives to remove the last barrier before the whales die.The ship's first attempt doesn't work and leaves only a dent. The ice is finally broken and the adult whales escape the ice. Sadly, the infant whale Bam-Bam dies from injuries and does not surface again.