This film tells the fascinating story of one project in the long-range Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) intended to extend the time, the range and the accuracy of weather forecasting. The film centres on the activities of the sophisticated Canadian weather ship Quadra, anchored some 3000 kilometers off the west coast of Africa during Operation GATE (the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment), the largest international weather study ever undertaken. Elsewhere in the world, the film examines the activities of land, aircraft and satellite weather stations.