Amburgo, 13 maggio 1939, il transatlantico tedesco MS St. Louis lascia la Germania con a bordo 937 profughi ebrei diretto a L'Avana; il viaggio tuttavia è stato organizzato, a scopo di propaganda, dal ministro nazista Joseph Goebbels e si tramuterà in una spaventosa odissea.

Su un'enorme nave da crociera di lusso mentre sono in mare, il fedele maggiordomo e una donna misteriosa si incrociano mentre cercano di scoprire un mistero di omicidio che si verifica sulla nave.

A detective poses as a jewel thief and joins a bunch of other crooks sailing from Europe to New York in search a famous gem. He falls in love with one of the crooks.

When a passenger ship sinks, a ship's officer must decide which passengers in an overcrowded lifeboat must be sacrificed so the rest can survive an approaching typhoon.

A young man falls in love with a beautiful blonde. When he sees her being forced onto a luxury liner, he decides to follow and rescue her. However, he discovers that she is an English heiress who ran away from home and is now being returned to England. He also discovers that his boss is on the ship. To avoid discovery, he disguises himself as the gangster accomplice of a minister, who is actually a gangster on the run from the law.

The saga of the Normandie is recounted from her life as a luxury liner, the horrific fire that nearly destroyed her, and her resuscitation to join in the war effort. A John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short.