Paul Wegener gives one of his most active performances here as Captain Ramper, a heroic aviator who makes a pioneering flight across the Arctic accompanied only by Ippling, his faithful mechanic (Kurt Gerron). Near the North Pole, their plane develops engine failure and crashes in the desolate wastes. Ippling dies straight off but Ramper finds a supply base containing food which has been left behind by a previous expedition. After fifteen years in the Arctic wastes, Ramper has considerably mutated.