In the United States, gripped by an energy crisis, an event of a planetary scale is taking place. University of Washington employee Lisa Lane makes an amazing discovery that could give humanity an almost unlimited source of energy. But energy magnate Mitchell Goyette finds out about this. He is ready to make every effort and means to seize the secret of the new technology, which consists in the use of the rare metal ruthenium. Lisa and her discovery are in dire danger. Luckily, she knows the head of the National Undersea Research Office, Dirk Pitt. Through his channels, he finds out that traces of the last large batch of mined ruthenium were lost somewhere in the Arctic. Now Pitt's task is to get ahead of Goyette's people...