Atka Bay in Antarctica is the scene of the greatest story of hardship and teamwork in nature. As the coldest and cruellest winter approaches and the sea turns to ice, every animal on land flees. But thousands of Emperor Penguins emerge from the waves and march inland across the barren wastelands, finally gathering together in one of the world's greatest animal colonies.

The Antarctic winter is this penguin's time to breed, a time to create the next generation of their dynasty. But to succeed, they and their chicks will face hardships unmatched anywhere else in the natural world. Every pair of penguins will rely on the extraordinary strength of the bond between them for their own survival and for the life of their offspring. And each pair will rely on the cooperation of all of the others in their colony, in the face of starvation, as their world is plunged into a sunless night that lasts six weeks, with storm force winds, blizzards and temperatures below -60 C.