A young woman is lured to the Yukon by a gambler with promises of marriage and a grubstake for a gold mine. She takes her ailing father with her, only to discover when she gets there that the gambler was lying to her and actually planned to sell her to a dance hall. She gathers her father and an old miner she has met, takes a dogsled and supplies from the gambler and the three of them head for the wilderness to look for a lost gold claim the old miner has been looking for.

This silent movie is based on Melville's classic Moby Dick. Ahab and his brother compete for the affections of minister's daughter Esther. But the great white whale has been eluding the harpooners, bearing many scars of failed attacks. Can our hero Ahab succeed where others have perished?