Gemide is a story of four sailors who co-exist in a silt-cleaning ship, living a very routine existence, enlivened only by the tales spun by their captain. One evening one of the sailors arrives back from the harbor badly beaten and robbed. The others track down the culprits but accidentally kill one of them; to add to their problems, they have also kidnapped a prostitute, keeping her in the hold overnight. The next morning they realize what trouble they have got themselves into, and what they will have to do to extricate themselves from it.