A young officer suffers under his ambitious wife, who is determined to make a captain out of him. Meanwhile, ship's cook Andresen becomes a father and, for the sake of his wife, becomes an innkeeper ashore, but he is still driven by wanderlust.

Set on the deserted North Sea island of Langeness, a lonely woman begins an affair with a stranger; only after he is identified as a political fugitive and deported does she begin to learn about his true identity and his past.

Erik Hoopen’s “Oversea Travel Agency” in Hamburg fronts an international gold‐smuggling ring. Couriers hide gold bars in special vests, exporting them to black markets in Cairo, Khartoum, Hong Kong, and Singapore and returning with suitcases of cash. Fierce underworld competition leads to thefts and murders. Central to the intrigue is mysterious locker #763, tying the criminal network together.