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On
a beautiful day in the South Pacific, the inhabitants of the island of
Manukura welcome Captain Nagle's arriving schooner. One of the
passengers is Germaine, the wife of the island's governor, Eugene DeLaage,
who is a strict believer in law and order. Also aboard is the first
mate, Terangi, who is to marry Chief Mehevi's lovely daughter Marama that
day. The DeLaages, Nagle and Dr. Kersaint attend the wedding, which is
presided over by Father Paul.
After a brief honeymoon with Marama on the
nearby uninhabited island of Motu Tonga, Terangi returns to his ship as it
sails for Tahiti. In Tahiti, Terangi and his friends go to a local
bar, where an antagonistic white man provokes Terangi into fighting with
him. After Terangi breaks the man's jaw, he is sentenced to six months
in jail, despite Nagle's assertions that Terangi acted in self-defense.
Nagle explains to the Tahitian governor that six months in jail to a
Manukuran native is a death sentence, but the governor states that the
injured man has powerful friends and Terangi therefore must serve his time.
While he is working with a hard labor crew,
Terangi sees the ship departing and tries to swim out to it. He is
captured, however, and the escape attempt adds a year to his sentence.
Despite the urgings of Nagle, Kersaint, Father Paul and Germaine, DeLaage
refuses to help Terangi, saying that he must not undermine the law's
authority. Marama, who is pregnant, takes the news badly and refuses
to be comforted.
As eight years pass, Terangi suffers many
hardships and repeatedly tries to escape, until finally sixteen years have
been added to his sentence. DeLaage coldly refuses to help Terangi and
is severely reproached again by Germaine and the others.
_NRFPT_01_small.jpg) One day, Terangi attempts to hang himself, and
when a guard interferes, Terangi succeeds in escaping, although he
unintentionally kills the guard. In a grueling journey, Terangi
travels the six hundred miles to Manukura in a canoe. He is picked up
by Father Paul, who arranges for Terangi to meet Marama at Motu Tonga.
There, Terangi also meets his daughter Tita for the first time.
Meanwhile, DeLaage has received news of Terangi's escape and angrily begins
to search for him.
Despite the growing winds, DeLaage commanders
Nagle's schooner to carry out the search. Realizing that the winds are
the beginnings of a hurricane, Terangi brings his family back to Manukura
for safety. The island's inhabitants frantically seek protection and,
while Kersaint delivers a baby in a boat, Father Paul and the faithful pray
in the church. Soon the savage hurricane rips through the island and
huge waves destroy the church. Terangi has tied Marama, Tita, Germaine
and himself to a giant tree, but the violence of the storm uproots the tree
and deposits it on a distant spit of land.
The next morning, Kersaint and the inhabitants
of his boat are among the few survivors, and a frantic DeLaage returns in
the schooner, which weathered the storm out at sea. He sets off again
in search of Germaine, and Terangi lights a signal fire to alert the
schooner. As it approaches, Germaine urges him to escape before
DeLaage sees him. The little family sets off in a canoe and, after
DeLaage joyfully embraces his wife, he notices their footprints in the sand.
He then sees the canoe, but Germaine insists that it is merely a floating
log. Realizing that Terangi saved his wife, DeLaage agrees with her
and lets Terangi and his family sail to a new life. |
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