Jae-ho who comes to the port city of Mokpo to find work on a boat is sold to a modern day 'slave boat' through an evil employment agent. On the shrimp catching boat, he meets a fifteen year-old runaway, an old man named Chun, Gil-jae who was lured from a deep-sea fishing boat and Bok-chun who is running from the law. The men are overworked and abused as they sail across the endless waters and unable to bear the conditions any longer. Gil-jae tries to escape but is caught. At that time, a dim witted young man named Dal-su is dragged onto the boat. Jae-ho tries to escape by nabbing a power boat but is caught early on when Bok-chun sells him out to the skipper. The runaway and Dal-su begin to scorn Jae-ho who tries a new tactic by kissing up to the skipper. Soon, the captain and the ship owner ask Jae-ho to be the new skipper. As the new skipper, Jae-ho plans a well-crafted escape as he guards the workers. Finally, Jae-ho proposes his escape plan to the rest of the workers but a dark and menacing figure begins to emerge from behind the scenes.