| abstract
| - With only a few hours left until the new year, passengers and crew board the ocean liner cruise ship Poseidon. Captain Harrison is worried to learn that the compay representative, Mr Lincaros is refusing to allow an additional ballast to be taken aboard. Harrison is also having problems with his daughter Jen, who is engaged to be married to a gambler named Christian. Jen tries unsuccessfully to convince her father that Christian has changed his old ways. A few deck below them in the kitchen, a girl named Marie is hunting for her friend Acres, who is a waiter on the ship. It becomes clear that Marie is a stowaway being helped by Acres so she can see her sick brother. Acres tells her to keep out of sight and return to their cabin. Harrison arrives at the ballroom and welcomes everyone aboard the ship and tells them all a little about the history before introducing the musical act Nonnie Parry. Sea marshal Mike Rogo takes a seat at the poker table and engages in a game of Texas Hold 'Em with another player named Lucky Larry and Christian. Jen, searching the room for her fiancé, meets and befriends a young boy named Robin Shelby and his mother Susan. A depressed priest, Frank Scott, who has been drinking heavily, goes out onto the promenade and contemplates jumping over the edge. Soon enough, the final countdown to 2016 begins, but just as the clock strikes midnight, a massive underwater earthquake occurs directly beneath the Poseidon, forming a huge tidal wave. The rogue wave smashes into the ship and the Poseidon capsizes. Scott retreats back inside just in time, but dozens of passengers are swept overboard and killed. The bridge is flooded and a number of officers, as well as Lincaros, are drowned. The ballroom erupts into chaos and numerous guests fall to their deaths. Once the panic has subsided, Susan searches for her son with Jen, and spot him on top of the piano, which is now on the ceiling. He is rescued by Acres. Harrison and Rogo deduce that their only hope of survival is to escape through the bow thrusters. Harrison announces their plan to the remaining passengers, and is joined by Scott, Susan, Robin, Lucky Larry and a couple named the Rosens, Manny and Belle. Jen decides to join her father against Christian's wishes. Christian decides to stay with the rest of the passengers in the ballroom, while the departing group use the Christmas tree as a makeshift ladder. The group make their way into the ship's galley, where they meet Marie. They attempt to use a table to cross the service elevator shaft. The last two to cross are Harrison and Acres and Harrison orders Acres to go first. As they are climbing into the next level, the table comes lose and falls down the shaft. The service car above them comes loose and begins to plummet rapidly downward. Realizing that they'll both die, Harrison twists Acres' hand and allows himself to fall down the shaft while Acres is pulled to safety. Harrison is impaled on the rebar below and is then crushed by the elevator, leaving Jen devastated. The group manage to make it to the ship's lobby, which they cross using a fallen escalator. Rogo and Lucky Larry are now the last two to cross, with Larry going first. However, an engine falls through the lobby floor and crushes him, destroying the bridge. Rogo uses a firehose to wing across the gap. Meanwhile, in the ballroom, Christian notices cracks forming in the windows and the room erupts into panic. Countless people try to climb up the Christmas tree, eventually causing it to come crashing down as the windows give away and everyone present is drowned. The survivors press on and climb into an air vent which leads to the ballast tanks. Suddenly, the engine room explodes and the vent is blown apart. Marie falls into the water, with Acres about to dive in after her when Scott shoves him out of the way and jumps in. Scott finds Marie, but she received a lethal blow to the head. She gives Scott her pendant to be given to Acres, who will in turn give it to her brother. Meanwhile, the others fear that they are both dead and decide to move on with some reluctance. Due to the explosion, the ship begins to quickly sink. Water rushes in and Susan and Robin are swept away, so Rogo splits off from the group to find them. He finds Robin and manages to save him, but is forced to abandon Susan when he finds no sign of her. He then reunites with Jen, Acres and the Rosens just as Scott reappears. When Acres finds out that Marie has died, he is unwilling to go on, until Scott gives him the pendant, giving him something to live for. The survivors finally make it to the bow thrusters, only to find the propellors still turning. Rogo realizes that they'll need to turn them off, but the group finds that the control room is completely submerged. Rogo decides that he will go and kneels down with Scott, who says a final prayer for them. Suddenly, Scott dives into the water and swims down into the control room, where he manages to deactivate the propellors before he drowns, sacrificing himself to save the others. The remainder of the group jump out of the propellor tube and land in a life raft, which were automatically deployed when the ship turned over. The survivors row for their lives and narrowly avoid being crushed by the Poseidon and the ship takes it's final plunge. Rogo fires a flare gun into the sky, and a short time later the handful of survivors; Rogo, Jen, Robin, the Rosens and Acres, are rescued by helicopters.
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