A British naval officer meets a sheltered young woman, they fall in love and have five passionate days. Then their lives never touch again. But the woman is pregnant and bears a son. She names him Albert and raises him alone, an early single parent. She schools him for the sea.

When a German cruiser, the Ziethen, sinks Albert's ship (it's WW I), he survives. The Ziethen picks him up, then puts into Resolution Island for repairs. Albert escapes and manages single- handedly to delay the cruiser's departure, buying time for the British fleet to track her down.

But after three days he can hold out no longer. He never knows that the Leopard, commanded by his unknown and unknowing father, is closing in.