When his father is found dead in a salt pond, having apparently struck his head on a piece of coral, Adrian Ainsworth is forced to hire an outsider to run the family salt reclamation plant on the isolated island of Dildo Cay in the British West Indies. Adrian's mother, who suffers from a weak heart and mental instability, is fearful that her husband was murdered by the local Bahamians who work for them, and her nerves are greatly calmed when Mr. Delbridge and his daughter Carol arrive to take over the running of the business. Adrian, however, resents the intrusion of strangers, especially as Delbridge insists on total control. His resentment is shared by Morales, Adrian's righthand man and friend, and the other islanders. Delbridge also immediately earns the enmity of the islanders when he strikes Morales after he refuses to give Delbridge the key to the house out of loyalty to the Ainsworths. Carol, a flirtatious sophisticate, is immediately attracted to the blonde and tanned Adrian, but is unaware that he is married because his wife resides in Spanish Harbour. A friendship between Carol and Adrian blossoms only after she learns this truth and Adrian learns that his business is in financial crisis. When Adrian gets a letter that his wife Mary is ill, he goes to Spanish Harbour, accompanied by Carol, who has business there, and discovers Mary in the midst of a love affair. Mary announces her intention to divorce him and insists that living on the barren Dildo Cay is destructive to the emotional well-being of any woman. Influenced by Mrs. Ainsworth's fear of the islanders, who are singing and chanting, Delbridge goes out into the night and fires upon the gathering. Mrs. Ainsworth suffers a fatal heart attack, and upon his return, Adrian learns that she has died and that Delbridge killed an innocent young boy. The islanders kidnap Delbridge and plan to take him to the local police, while Adrian and Carol are left helpless on Dildo Cay. Freed from any previous restrictions, Adrian and Carol fall in love and dream of their future life together. Morales, meanwhile, returns with the islanders and reveals that Delbridge, in fear for his life, jumped overboard before they got to the authorities and is presumed dead. Adrian, fearful that Carol will become like his mother and Mary, refuses to allow her to remain at Dildo Cay and forcibly takes her to Spanish Harbour. There his friend, Captain Jack Risingwell, advises Adrian that it was a lack of love and not Dildo Cay that was destructive to his family. On his return sail to Dildo Cay, Adrian happily discovers that Carol has stowed away in his boat.