故事发生在1820年的冬天，一条名为埃塞克斯号的捕鲸船航行在广袤的南太平洋，让所有船员们都没有想到的是，此时的海底，潜伏着一条拥有着高超智商和强烈的复仇意识的鲸鱼，正准备执行它的复仇计划。 　　很快，捕鲸船就遭到了鲸鱼三番五次的猛烈进攻，脆弱的船身在体型庞大的鲸鱼的撞击下很快就变得支离破碎，船员们伤亡惨重。包括大副欧文（克里斯·海姆斯沃斯 Chris Hemsworth 饰）、船员尼克森（汤姆·赫兰德 Tom Holland 饰）、马修（希里安·墨菲 Cillian Murphy 饰）在内的一群幸存者们挤在小船上，在茫茫大海中漂泊了90天。在这90天里，人间地狱的景象在小船中轮番上演。In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. "In the Heart of the Sea" reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.