Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood and her latest co-star, actor Christopher Walken, are moored off the shore of California's Catalina Island on the yacht, Splendour. But envy-stricken Wagner's behavior grows erratic — so much so a "petrified" Natalie begs the ship's captain, Dennis Davern, to take her ashore in a dinghy. Once there, she confides her plans to leave her husband Wagner and desperately flee by way of a sea plane. But her efforts to secure a plane are stymied. Instead, she and Davern return to the yacht — and Natalie's final day of life commences back on board.