Set in a medieval realm where Captain Ahab and crew hunt dragons for the vitriol that powers their world, Ishmael, a charismatic harpooner and his friend Queequeg join their quest. Ahab's adopted daughter Rachel, beautiful and tough, runs the hunting vessel. Ahab's obsession to seek revenge on a great White Dragon that slaughtered his family when he was young and left his body scarred and mauled drives the crew deeper into the heart of darkness.

In this two-part made-for-TV retelling of the legendary Herman Melville tale, Ishmael, sole survivor of the lost whaling ship The Pequod, relates the tale of monomaniacal Captain Ahab 's self-destructive obsession to hunt and slay the elusive great white whale, Moby Dick, who disfigured him, forcing his tired and mutinous crew to travel the seas until they find it.