Two RAAF Neptunes take off for Hawaii in November 1968, intending to stop at Fiji and Canton Atoll along the way. They never arrive. Six months later the only two survivors from the two crews are picked up in an inflatable dinghy in the Pacific. The story they have to tell is that of a horror flight in which the Officer in Charge demonstrates his incompetency by ordering a Navex at night while maintaining radio silence. After dealing with a spot of sabotage inflicted by a couple of disgruntled members of the ground crew, the aircraft become lost in a storm, and fail to find Canton Atoll. What they do find, is an uncharted island surmounted with tall, black cliffs, which they name Blackrock Island. Running desperately out of fuel they decide to ditch the aircraft on the island, one by skimming across the water up to the beach, the other by landing in a heavily afforested area, skimming across the tops of the trees. Both decisions bring about casualties, but much worse is waiting for them on Blackrock Island.