David Charleston, once a world renowned journalist, now lives alone maintaining the Thunder Rock lighthouse in Lake Michigan. He doesn't cash his paychecks and has no contact other than the monthly inspector's visit. When alone, he imagines conversations with those who died when a 19th century packet ship with some 60 passengers sank. He imagines their lives, their problems, their fears and their hopes. In one of these conversations, he recalls his own efforts in the 1930s when he desperately tried to convince first his editors, and later the public, of the dangers of fascism and the inevitability of war. Few would listen. One of the passengers, a spinster, tells her story of seeking independence from a world dominated by men. There's also the case of a doctor who is banished for using unacceptable methods. David has given up on life, but the imaginary passengers give him hope for the future.

Stefan Radetzky, a Polish pilot and famous concert pianist, is hospitalised in England from injuries sustained while in combat, and having lost his memory. As Radetzky plays the piano in a trance-like state, the story moves back in time to war-torn Warsaw. During an air-raid, Radetzky meets American journalist Carole, and there is a mutual attraction. Following the fall of Poland, Radetzky and Irish pilot, Mike, escape to Rumania and then on to America. Radetzky continues his musical career in America and meets up again with Carole.

American racketeer Jimmie Dean travels to England, where he assumes the identity of a Canadian whom he has been falsely accused of murdering. Jimmie is then forced to join the British army in the dead man's place. He falls in love with the Canadian's childhood playmate, Sally Briggs, and becomes a hero after saving an isolated English colony in China.

A young woman finds herself as the intended victim of a murder plot on a transatlantic flight from London to New York.

During the Second World War a British schoolteacher working in Denmark is caught up when the Germans invade.

A Chicago gangster steals jewels and frames his band leader double.