After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.

Prequel to the 2003 film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" that adapts the first book in the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian released in 1969 and titled "Master and Commander": Jack Aubrey is elated to be given his first appointment as commander: the fourteen-gun ship HMS Sophie. Aubrey and a brilliant but down-on-his-luck physician, Stephen Maturin, strike up an unlikely rapport. He invites Maturin to join his crew as the Sophie’s surgeon.

Even though this is a recap, there are a few sequences where there is some new text overlaid the pictures, telling something that wasn't explicitly told earlier.

Making-of documentary for "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"