Aboard the cargo ship McRuby, docked in New York, six stowaways burst from one of the containers being unloaded. They flee from the ship, but are apprehended by dock workers and the New York police. The McRuby's Ukrainian crew watches the detention with some amusement, but the ship's captain and his first mate, Ion Plesin, are displeased, aware that the illegal immigrants will cost the shipping company hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. In response, company representative Andreas Vlachos arrives to oversee future operations and warn that the crew will be liable for any more such fines. Later, the McRuby is docked in Ghana, where dock worker Kingsley Ofosu plans to some day stow away aboard a cargo ship to pursue a better life for himself and his pregnant wife in the United States. Upon winning a lottery, he decides that the time is right, as he can use the money to get on his feet upon his arrival. Ofosu, his brother and six other men slip aboard the McRuby and hide in its cargo holds. With the ship behind schedule, Plesin has only one hour to conduct a stowaway search prior to departure. The hasty endeavor fails to turn up Ofosu's group and the ship sails, bound for France, prior to sailing on to New York. Ofosu's group encounters another stowaway, who had boarded the ship in Cameroon. The men jovially discuss the vocations they intend to pursue in the United States. Later, their water container breaks, forcing them to leave the cargo area to forage for food and water. They leave evidence of the presence, which is then discovered by the crew. To prevent Vlachos from learning that the stowaway search had been incomplete, the captain has Plesin assemble a small team to conduct a secret perquisition. The stowaways are found and Plesin discusses the predicament with the captain. Given the illegal immigrant fines, they cannot bring the stowaways into port. However, they also cannot alter course to drop the men off somewhere, as Vlachos would then find out about them. The Africans are taken to be hidden within the ship's anchor hold. When they object, they find Plesin unsympathetic to their desire to escape poverty. He points out that if the stowaways' presence becomes known, he and his men will be fired, and any other jobs they can find in Ukraine will pay even less than the meager wages earned by Ofosu on the docks in Ghana. The stowaways are forced into the hold and initially left without food or water. Yuri, one of Plesin's men, takes pity and secretly delivers them a little water, but he is powerless to do more. As the stowaways suffer, Ofosu laments that he has led the group to their deaths. The captain finally acquiesces to Plesin's plan to kill the stowaways. The men are taken from the hold in small groups. As each group is brought into another area, they are ambushed and their bodies thrown overboard. Yuri tries to stop the massacre, but the others overpower and subdue him. Ofosu and his brother are the last two brought out, but they surmise what is about to occur and make a run for it, heading in different directions. As they do, Ofosu's brother is shot and, with his injury, is soon caught and thrown overboard as Ofosu watches. Ofosu flees back below decks to hide and is able to elude further searches for him. While in the cargo hold, Ofosu stashes a picture of himself and his wife inside one of the cocoa sacks. Plesin's men are concerned about their inability to locate their final stowaway, but they reason that all Western countries despise black immigrants and thus no one will be motivated to take action against them. They also expect to be able to secure him upon reaching port when he tries to exit the ship. However, once the ship docks, Ofosu is able to escape to shore and make it to the police before Plesin's men can catch him. The next day, French authorities board the McRuby to investigate Ofosu's story. Plesin first denies that there had been any stowaway, but the ship's cocoa sacks are searched, yielding Ofosu's picture. Plesin's final play is to acknowledge the killings but to suggest that he and his men had done France a favor by preventing undesirable blacks from entering the country illegally. The police are unimpressed by this rationale and immediately arrest Plesin and his men, along with the captain. The film ends with Ofosu on the phone with his wife, hearing the cries of his newborn son, whom he pledges to name after his brother. An epilogue notes that the captain and first mate were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Three other crew members were also convicted and received 20-year sentences, while one crew member was acquitted. Kingsley Ofosu was living in France and hoping to have his wife and child join him.