Arthur Fulton charters the sailing yacht Bad Habit in an attempt to bring his squabbling sons together in some sort of reunion. He knows his life is soon coming to an end and desperately needs to turn the helm of his company over to one of them, but the two of them are as different as lobsters and mackerel. George Fulton, the captain of the yacht Latham charters, wakes one morning to find Arthur missing. Murder, suicide, an accident...nobody knows. George and his crew head back to the yacht's mooring in Edgartown Harbor on Martha's Vineyard to sort things out while the Coast Guard does a search. Athos Kollistos, a successful Greek business man, shows up at the island on his yacht. His rivalry with the Arthur Fulton's younger son over a mine in Turkey starts to gets nasty. To make matters worse, Hurricane Diane is coming up the coast, which will force everybody's hand.