A film for and about "water-gazers", as Herman Melville's Ishmael in "Moby Dick" called those who find it hard to avert their gaze from the sea. The crew on board the Finnish research ship "aranda" gazes at the sea professionally - above and below the water surface. A film team has accompanied the marine scientists on trips across the Atlantic and the Baltic and polar seas. Fantastic images were recorded of the sea during various seasons, in dead calm or under extreme weather conditions. The images are commented by crew members, by diary entries and excerpts from letters. The cinematic voyage leads all the way into the Antarctic - and reaches very far back into the history of mankind. "Aranda" is a fascinating "seascape" on the cinema screen, an informative science report and simultaneously a seductive oceanic dream.