True North

The Providence, a heavily-indebted Scottish trawler, calls in at a Belgian port. Once again, it has failed to catch enough to pay the mortgage. At his wits’ end, Sean, the ship’s mate, meets a contact about doing some smuggling. The contact, however, doesn’t have any black market cigarettes. He’s only got Chinese immigrants - all of whom have paid to get to Britain. In spite of his misgivings, Sean agrees to take the passengers. He recruits Riley, a crewman, to help him. There’s one person Sean doesn’t dare tell, though - his father, the Skipper. Whilst the skipper sleeps, the Chinese are hidden down in the darkness of the hold. All but one of the Chinese, that is. Su Li, a girl of 12, slips away unnoticed below decks. Soon the slow-witted Cook notices that food is disappearing from his galley. He begins a covert quest to find the thief. Back on deck, conflict is brewing between Sean and Riley. As far as Sean is concerned, the Providence can’t sail straight home without getting a good catch first. Without any fish on board, coming from a foreign port, the ship is sure to be searched and the Chinese discovered. Riley had never though any of this through – and his enthusiasm is rapidly waning Both the ship and the Skipper are old, though - again and again the net comes up near empty. Meanwhile, conditions in the hold are deteriorating rapidly. Increasingly desperate, Riley and Sean work themselves to exhaustion, even braving a storm in an effort to get a catch. When one of the Chinese dies in the hold, however, Riley breaks. He goes to the Skipper and tells all. The Skipper confronts his son. But Sean was only ever trying to keep his father’s pride and ship afloat. For the first time, the Skipper is forced to acknowledge that he‘s only making a loss by staying at sea. Broken, he gives the wheel to Sean, who turns for home to face certain arrest. The Skipper will lose his license, and the bank will foreclose on the boat. But Sean has no choice: the Chinese cannot be allowed to suffer more. On the homeward journey, though, Sean picks up a strong sonar signal. If he can land a catch, he’d save both the Chinese and the ship.