The Bering

Forty-seven people plunge into the deadly, black waters of the Bering Sea, and there’s only a handful of Coast Guard crew — and even fewer hours — to get them out alive.

The Alaska Ranger fishing trawler, jokingly referred to by the crew as the “Danger Ranger,” steams off toward a school of mackerel in the Bering Sea. Kenny Smith and 46 others are onboard the beat up, rusty boat, hoping to make up for a disappointing winter fishing season. But the trawler lives up to its nickname when an engineer discovers out-of-control flooding below deck.

As the Coast Guard Cutter Munro crew prepares for some downtime for the Easter holiday, Alaska Ranger crew members are ripped from their bunks and abandoning ship into 32-degree seas. The Munro is much too far away from the47-person search and rescue case to respond. But they’ll have to anyway.

Coast Guard Pilot Steve Bonn’s XBOX game is interrupted when he learns he’ll need to help save several dozen people floating in the Bering Sea. Reality sets in, a lot of people will die unless the Munro crew can launch a small helicopter from the cutter in extremely dangerous conditions.

It’s now up to Abe Heller, a 22-year-old rookie Coast Guard rescue swimmer to finish the job. People have now been in the water for more than two hours. Julio Morales, also a rookie of sorts being one of the newer Ranger crew members, has watched two helicopters rescue his shipmates and leave him behind. The Coast Guard team deals with unimaginable slip ups as their helicopter is on the brink of running out of gas.

The largest ever Coast Guard rescue at a single time wraps up. Medals are handed out and settlements are awarded. But that’s not where the story ends.