To earn his passage home, Dooley finds work on an ex-Russian submarine. He leaves Shanghai under the leadership of Major Dimitri Utkin on a mission that he knows little about. Also on board are others who seek escape--from the dissatisfied captain of a U.S. Navy destroyer, whose chief petty officer is on the hunt for a chest of pirated British gold sovereigns, to a young and destitute Russian countess, Zeta Tolstoy.

Dooley's expectations are complicated when he realizes that Utkin's cadre consists of men traumatized by the war and the Bolshevik Revolution--men who plan to impose their will on America. Before he knows it, Dooley's one-week commitment turns into a life-or-death struggle in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.