The powerful German battle cruiser Scharnhorst was stalked and engaged on Boxing Day 1943 by a superior Allied naval task force off the North Cape of Norway. In pitch darkness and mountainous seas, British warships led by HMS Duke of York and HMS Belfast engaged Scharnhorst in a clash of the titans that saw the pride of the German Navy sent to the bottom of the Barents Sea with heavy loss of life among its crew of the 2000 or so men onboard, only 36 were saved.

In 2000, the Norwegian writer and investigative journalist, Alf R. Jacobsen, led the expedition that found and filmed the wreck of the Scharnhorst 1000ft down in the freezing ocean inside the Arctic Circle. His book tells for the first time the complete story of this important World War II naval engagement and the eventual rediscovery of the ship. The story of the destruction of the Scharnhorst and the clandestine activities around the German naval base in northern Norway are interwoven with the author's personal account of how, after a search lasting many years, he finally succeeded in locating and filming the wreck of the battle cruiser.