Loie Austin, an artist's model, is accosted by a ship chandler and shoots him in attempting to escape. She then tries to end her own life in the bay but is rescued by Larry O'Neil, a drifter employed as a cook on a steamer. Loie, with Larry's aid, stows away on his ship, disguised as a boy; but she is discovered by the domineering Captain Klodel, who, when notified of her crime, uses his knowledge of it as a weapon to force his attentions upon her. Larry intercedes in her behalf and thrashes him. A storm wrecks the ship, and Loie and Larry are stranded on an island, where they are befriended by a white trader. Klodel arrives and claims Loie as his prisoner, and believing she loves him, Larry gives way to dissipation; finally, he beats the captain and is reunited with the woman he loves just as the trader learns that her supposed vicitim has recovered after all.