When Howard Spurlock stole money from his uncle, he fled to the South Seas to escape imprisonment. When got there, he found himself drinking day and night to deal with the guilt of his circumstance -- he drank himself so ill, in fact, that he needed medical attention. He got it from a missionary's daughter -- and ended up marrying her. And then a change came on him, as it comes on so many men who settle down: he changed his ways and found legitimate work with a doctor in order to provide for his new family. Each day, he worried that his past would catch up with him. Could he somehow escape his fate? Or would he be doomed to destroy all that he loved. . . ?