Based on a miraculous true story of courage in the face of impossible odds.

"If I perish, I perish." A sermon based on Queen Esther's famous words spurs music teacher Mary Cornish to action. She volunteers to escort a group of 15 girls from England to Canada as part of Britain's World War II child evacuation program.

All is well aboard the SS City of Benares until September 17, 1940. With a storm brewing in the North Atlantic, a German U-boat releases its torpedo and breaches the ship's hull. Do the Nazis know ninety children are on board?

In the scramble to save as many lives as possible, Mary lands in a crowded lifeboat as the only female among crew members, passengers, and six young boys. In the storm's aftermath, two things soon become crystal clear: that Lifeboat 12 has become separated from all the others, and that Mary has been placed here for such a time as this--even if she perishes.