Bulk carrier MV Flare is more than halfway on a 3,700-mile voyage across the North Atlantic to pick up a cargo of grain in Montreal. It never arrives. The massive ship gets caught in a violent storm and snaps in two. Miraculously, four of the crew of 25 survive, but the catastrophe greatly troubles investigators. The Flare is one of many active bulk carriers made of the same fracture-resistant steel. If there's a flaw in the design of the material, similar vessels all over the world may be in danger of sinking at any moment.

MSC Flaminia is transporting thousands of containers across the Atlantic, en route to Belgium, when a massive fireball erupts from the cargo hold. With many of the containers full of dangerous goods, the officers, crew, and passengers must abandon ship before another explosion occurs. When investigators struggle to determine the cause of the disaster, they bring in an expert chemist; she discovers traces of a chemical cocktail that turned the ship into a pressure cooker ready to go off. It's a danger that threatens shipping around the world.