Sounds, images and action close-ups depict the urgency and bustle of the world's largest inland seaport at Montréal, in the last feverish days before freeze-up. Moving an annual three million tons of cargo to the four corners of the world becomes a race against time as train crews and dock hands work round the clock to get one freighter loaded and into midstream before another comes in to dock. Some impressions of the city of Montréal are given as the film follows two ship's officers on a brief shore-leave.