A restless Chinese sea captain makes a stopover in Hawaii. While ashore, the captain befriends a Hawaiian-Chinese family and, at the mother's request, teaches Chinese to her children. He falls in love with the daughter (Siu Fei Fei) although he must soon depart with his ship. Eventually he returns, "rescuing her from the natives," and takes her back to China.

This love story spans more than a decade in the lives of an émigré engineer and a widowed primary-school teacher, a tragedy set in a small town by a lake, filmed in beautiful California locations.

A woman remains the mistress of a married man until his death.