From the Arctic Ocean to the South Seas: Even as a child, Thor Heyerdahl was a friend of bold ventures. Nevertheless, when he set out to prove that Polynesia had been settled from the East, he embarked on an adventure that surpassed all his prior perilous endeavours. In 1947 he and five other Scandinavians constructed a raft out of balsa wood, with which they then set sail. With no prior nautical experience, they travelled almost 8000 miles in 100 days - constantly uncertain of their destination while the raft gradually soaked up water beneath them. Grand images depict their reactions to dead calm and to thunderstorms respectively, as well as their encounters with whales, sharks, flying and fluorescent fish. Reenacted scenes fom Heyerdahl's original film material bring to life the extraordinary aura of this amateur endeavour. “Kon-Tiki” is an adventure film that celebrates the unique performance of each of its participants without concealing their fears and dissapointments.