Famed Italian explorer Umberto Nobile (Peter Finch) is a tormented man. As leader of a groundbreaking expedition to the North pole in 1928, he is haunted by what becomes an ill-fated, headline-making ordeal. When the party's airship Italia breaks up during a fierce storm, the survivors dumped onto the unforgiving Arctic wasteland salvage what they can from the wreckage and anxiously await rescue. Sean Connery is Norwegian explorer Roald Amundesen, determined to locate the missing men. Hardy Kruger is a mercenary aviator seeking the limelight by attempting to pluck Nobile from an icy fate. And Claudia Cardinale is a girlfriend back home who becomes the driving force behind a bold attempt to rescue the stranded men. The days pass. The world watches. And the raged Italia survivors huddle within their meager shelter - The Red Tent - and continue to hope. For hope is all they have.