Wiltshire is the third man sent by a trading company to work on a small Polynesian island; the previous two had strangely died. Upon arriving he encounters his competitor, Case, a man determined to keep the island to himself. Months later after Wiltshire marries a native woman, the natives refuse to trade with him because Case has convinced the superstitious people that the woman is "taboo" and cursed. Wiltshire refuses to leave the island as Case wants and takes him on in the jungle.