The stars of an endless night bathe a Russian navy battleship cruising the icy waters of the Barents Sea in a spectral haze. Through the prism of its crew of conscripts, their chores, their watches and conversations, the ship's commander immerses himself in a reflection deepened by loneliness. In a long night time journey punctuated by ghostly apparitions, Alexander Sokurov paints a moving human epic revealing the outlines of Russia's historical destiny.