At a time when militarism was rampant, a fishing boat named "Hakumitsu Maru" carrying dozens of crab workers was tossed in the stormy waves of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The ship was owned by a food company specializing in canned crab meat, and it carried out crazy fishing and production in the name of the empire. The crab workers came from different backgrounds, but without exception, they all came from poor families. For that pitiful salary, they had to work hard every day and endure the punishment and scolding of the devil foreman Asakawa (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) at any time. The crab workers could not live or die, and the mood of despair and decadence spread wantonly in the "Hakumitsu Maru". By chance, the crab workers Shinjo (played by Ryuhei Matsuda) and Shiota (played by Hirofumi Arai) boarded a Russian ship, and they were infected by the free and happy atmosphere on the ship. After returning to the "Hakumitsu Maru", Shinjo encouraged everyone to rise up against the oppression of the capitalists... This film is adapted from the novella of the same name by the Japanese Communist writer Kobayashi Takiji.