Captain David O'Keefe sails from Hong Kong to the South Pacific hoping to make a fortune from the copra trade, but his crew mutinies and throws him overboard. He is cast up on Yap, a small island where the coconut palms are plentiful and the islanders happily idle. During native festivities, O'Keefe beats Boogulroo, the head chief of the islands, in single combat, and is acclaimed as a mighty warrior. But even the goodwill this engenders cannot make the islanders work to harvest the copra, and they are not tempted by European goods. The one thing the islanders will struggle is the sacred stone Fei which is found on a island far from Yap.
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Though O'Keefe leaves for Hong Kong on the next boat, he plans to return for the copra. He has difficulty funding a new expedition, and is beaten up by Captain Bully Hayes, who regards the Yap area as his territory. Then Sien Tang, a man of vision, supplies O'Keefe with a Cochin China junk and crew. On the way the junk is attacked by fierce islanders when it stops for fresh water. O'Keefe recovers from his injuries on the friendly island of Palau where he falls in love with Dalabo, the half-islander daughter of the Australian company rep. Coincidentally, Palau is the place the Yap islanders come to for Fei. O'Keefe helps them to get a big load of it with dynamite and pickaxes, but when he wants copra in return, Boogulroo and some others are angry. They say he has tricked them and violated their way of life. However, some of the islanders accept the deal and work round the clock to fill the ship with copra.
O'Keefe and Dalabo go to Hong Kong for their wedding. Sien Tang arranges an elaborate ceremony with Chinese lanterns and a curvetting dragon. On their return to Yap, they find Bully Hayes and his crew have burnt villages, killed many islanders and enslaved others. O'Keefe rescues the captives and organizes the islanders against the pirates, driving their ship away. The chiefs proclaim him their king, but he still has many enemies.
The review of this Movie prepared by Maureen Evans
