Why would a dashing New York filmmaker find himself in the wilds of Newfoundland in the 1920's? Far from the privilege of Manhattan's Upper East Side, Varick Frissel was lured by the treacherous beauty of the North. With backing from Hollywood's Paramount Pictures, he set out to make the early sound feature, the Viking, an astonishing record of Newfoundland's perilous seal hunt. White Thunder tells the remarkable tale, bringing us back to the undulating icy seas where Frisell would meet his tragic fate.