An adaptation of a book by Charlotte Rogan, it centers on Grace Winter, who is standing trial for murder in 1914. The young woman is both a newlywed and a widow, and she recounts how she survived the sinking of the transatlantic ship Empress with the help of her new husband only to end up in a lifeboat. The quandary, however, is that there are too many people in the boat and the survivors soon start talking about getting rid of certain people.