In April 2002 Jean-Louis Etienne set out on a new human and scientific adventure in the heart of an ice ocean, on board the Polar Explorer, a revolutionary module for scientific observation. This solitary expedition will make an exceptional contribution to research programmes on the Arctic environment. In fact, at the pole, it is possible to study the climatic changes in progress on our planet. The polar ice pack, which has lost 40% of its thickness and 6% of its surface in the last forty years, has become the symbol of this phenomenon. Dropped off by a giant Russian helicopter, the Polar Explorer and its single occupant drift with the ice pack for more than four months, carried towards Svalbard by the great transpolar current. The film follows it for the whole of the scientific adventure and the inner voyage of this hearty explorer.