Richard Rorke

When a decaying Russian satellite crashes on the island, the Professor uses a key component for a barometer. With that device, he learns that a massive wave is going to swamp the island. In desperation, the castaways lash their huts together into one structure in order to have any chance to ride the disaster out.

Young lovers — she's a child of the ghetto, determined to escape her alcoholic, bickering parents; he's a socially prominent attorney with a long-standing health problem — attempt to defy every obstacle to their romance and ultimate marriage.

A widow's life is thrown into turmoil by her hippie daughter, her rebellious teenage son, and an ill-starred love affair she is having with a much younger man -- and then a former suitor comes back into the picture.