Henry Bemis is a bank teller who loves to read books. However, he gets in trouble for reading on his breaks at work and condemned by his wife at home when he attempts to read in his free time. Upon finding himself to be the lone survivor of a nuclear attack, Henry Bemis soon finds he has time enough to read any book he wants, only fate has other plans for him.

A man wakes up on an ocean liner with no memory of how he got there... and a Nazi U-boat soon begins stalking the liner.