On January 23, 1909, two ships--one carrying Italian immigrants to New York, the other American tourists to Europe- collided in a dense fog off Nantucket Island. In an instant, more than 1,500 lives suddenly became dependent on a new technology, wireless telegraphy, and the efforts of a twenty-six-year-old wireless operator who bravely tapped out distress signals form his sinking ship. This film tells this story of courage, luck and heroism.