In May 1962, aboard the Italian ocean liner SS Antonia Graza, dozens of wealthy passengers dance to the song "Senza Fine" sung by Francesca, an Italian lounge singer. A young girl, Katie Harwood, sits alone until the ship's captain offers to dance with her on the exterior dance floor. Elsewhere, a hand presses a lever that unravels a thin wire cord from a spool. The spool snaps and the wire whips across the dance floor, bisecting the passengers and crew. Katie is spared due to her height, but screams in horror as the captain, leaning protectively over her, is revealed to have fallen victim to the wire as well.
Forty years later, at a bar, a salvage crew � Captain Sean Murphy, Maureen Epps, Greer, Dodge, Munder, and Santos � celebrate their recent success. Jack Ferriman, a Canadian weather service pilot, approaches them and says he spotted a vessel adrift in the Bering Sea. Because the ship is in international waters, it can be claimed by whoever brings it to port. The crew sets out on the Arctic Warrior, an ocean salvage tugboat. The ship is the Antonia Graza, which mysteriously went missing decades ago, similar to the Mary Celeste. After locating and boarding the abandoned liner, the salvagers discover millions of dollars in gold bars in her cargo hold. After a series of supernatural events, the group decides to abandon the salvage effort for the ship and retreat with the gold, but an invisible force sabotages the Arctic Warrior. The tugboat explodes as its engine is restarted, killing Santos.
Left with no other option, the group begins repairing the Antonia Graza. Greer encounters Francesca, who seduces him into betraying the fianc�e he has ashore, then leads him into an elevator shaft to his death. Captain Murphy enters the captain's cabin and finds his ghost. The captain explains that they recovered the gold from a sinking cruise ship, the Lorelei, along with a sole survivor. Murphy is shown a picture of the survivor, whom he recognizes. He rushes to tell the others, but begins hallucinating and sees everyone as the ghost of the burned Santos, who provokes him into a murderous rage. The others think Murphy has gone mad and lock him in the drained fish tank, where Epps later finds him drowned.
