In the last ship of the season to leave Nome, Alaska, wealthy Joseph Horn, his daughter Ethelyn, and members of their party become stranded in the ice. Seeing their plight, passing fur traders agree to take them to safety if Horn pays them $2,000. Horn agrees, but he and the five other members of the party are left stranded in a deserted trading post. The individual personalities of the group begin to change under the adverse circumstances they face. Soon, the bullying Horn shows himself to be a coward, while the pampered Ethelyn becomes slovenly, and the saintly Sister Burton loses her faith. Sometime later, Horn's effete secretary, Peter Van Dykeman, is shot by an Eskimo. One of the traders offers protection to the rest, but his price is the companionship of Pearl, a vaudeville performer who also is a member of the group. Pearl eventually shows her true worth by grabbing the trader’s gun, then forcing him to give food and medicine to the others. Finally, after Peter recovers, he gains the courage to take Pearl and board a sled to away and find help.