Richard Forbush (Sir John Hurt) is wealthy, a lothario preying on nubile young coeds, and a dipsomaniac, which, in addition to having a reckless disregard for most other things in life often gets him into trouble, sometimes with the law. He is also one of the most promising young ecological biologists, he is doing his post graduate work at Queen's in London. The latest object of his affection is Tara St. John Luke (Hayley Mills), a new waitress at his local pub, and an undergraduate biology student at Queen's, she tries not to give him the time of day. Because his exasperated Professor George Dewport (Tony Britton) has gotten him out of one scrape after another, a reluctant Richard feels obliged to grant Professor Dewport's request to do a poorly paid and thankless research assignment before he goes onto whatever fame in the field he ultimately chooses. That assignment is a solo one to spend one season in Cape Royds, Antarctica to collect data and monitor the return of the penguins, including their mating and breeding ritual. Beyond being in Antarctica, Richard is unprepared for the rigors of the assignment, his life there unlike his playboy life in London, and penguins for which he had no affinity going into the work. One of the major things keeping him going is thoughts of Tara, and hoping that she in return is thinking of him. But as time progresses, he falls prey to the ultimate sin of the scientist: growing attached to the subjects, so much so, that he does whatever he can to protect them, especially from their natural predators. In doing so, Richard slowly falls into madness in his isolation, with the question being if he can recover before it's too late.
—Huggo