A Romeo and Juliet story about brilliant scientist and mathematician, Alan Hardie’s love and marriage to Tahitian beauty, Naia, met with negativity from her mother (who hides a mammoth secret); from Alan’s racist father; from caring foster brother, George; and from Tyson, the British Consul in Tahiti and friend of both families. Only Naia’s grandfather is their help but, finally, nothing saves them from their ultimate destiny.

SYNOPSIS:

Cut off in Vaihiva by a thunderstorm, Mauri a Polynesian and friend Nina McLeod an English woman, give birth to their babies at the same time. Mauri's child dies and Nina’s lives but Nina dies. The Polynesian adopts the English baby girl as her own. The McLeod's son, George, orphaned at the age of 6, is sent to his father's closest friend, General Hardie in England. George McLeod and the General's son, Alan Hardie, (named after Alan McLeod who dies from mustard gas poisoning in WW1), grow up as brothers.

Eighteen years after the events, Alan, at the insistence of his father, sails for Tahiti accompanied by his foster brother, George. Alan has done brilliantly at Cambridge but eyestrain due to scarlet fever as an infant had weakened them. General Hardie suggests Tahiti because one of the trio of friends that included the unfortunate McLeod, is Robert Tyson, the British Consul in Papeete.

From a village on the coast, George and Alan finally get to Vaihiva by canoe, where George’s parents lived. Mauri greets George with strong emotion. Alan, feeling out of place, has left to return by the land route to the coastal village. Mauri shows George the graves of his parents and infant ‘sister’ but is anxious for him to leave as she wants to keep the brother and sister (Naia) apart. George returns to Alan and suggests they go back to Papeete. Alan is enchanted with the country and elects to re­main.

At a small island in the bay that leads to Vaihiva Alan meets Naia, who invites him to spend time at Vaihiva. Her mother is away, but her Grandfather Raitua will make him welcome. After three weeks of being together, Alan decides he has to resist their mutual attraction. Marriage with her seems impossible. His father, a died-in-the-wool racist, would be devastated. His own people would not accept her. He leaves her but soon realises he cannot live without her. He overrules Tyson, the British Consul who believe Naia would be out of place in English society and resists George's objections that he would break his father's heart. He returns to Naia who agrees to marry him.

Mauri does not want this marriage as it will mean Naia would go to England with her husband. But Mauri’s father, Naia’ grandfather, forestalls her plans to slip her away to another island, by taking her to the island of his birth Hao, where the lovers take their vows. The cutter taking them back to Vaihiva is becalmed. Raitua swims ashore. A storm blows up and takes the vessel out to sea. Certain the angry gods are doing this, Naia tries to throw herself overboard. Alan explains he would have to follow her as he cannot live without her. Raitua and Mauri watch the cutter lost to sight and, to everyone, they ship had sunk with the two lovers.

Alan and Naia are marooned on a far off island. In the three years they spend there, they have a son, Tua, and Alan finally goes blind. Found, they return to Papeete. Tyson, the British Consul, sends them back to Vaihiva, to Mauri and Raitua. He cables General Hardie and George McLeod to inform them Alan is alive. They come out and it is arranged that the General meets his son alone. George goes ahead to Vaihiva to ensure Alan leaves alone to meet his father. He and Naia meet for the first time and are drawn to one another by their bond of blood.

The General informs his son the university wants him to continue the research in which he was engaged before he left. Alan comments Naia will love England. The General says she would be miserable in a strange environment after Tahiti. The General makes it clear he will not meet the ‘Kanaka wench’ his son chose to marry and is certain she will release Alan, now he is blind. Alan is infuriated his father expects him to desert his wife and child. He vows never to return home. The General decides to make a last ditch effort at Vaihiva to convince his son to return to England. At Vaihiva, Naia convinces Alan to try a native remedy of flower juice for his blindness. He is unaware they grow up on a cliff.

Tyson's launch approaches Vaihiva. Mauri is concerned neither Naia nor Alan is there to greet the visitors. When George tells her where they are, she is alarmed and sends George off with Raitua to search for them. They find Alan lost in the hills, unaware, not a few feet away, Naia lies dead. She clutches the flowers she had collected. When Alan learns of her demise, he speaks to no one. He locks himself in his room. Early the next morning he taps his way to the beach and dives into the sea. General Hardie, a broken man, remains adamant that his half-caste grandson remain in Tahiti with his grandmother. Mauri, afraid the gods are angry, confesses Naia is Nina McLeod's daughter, George's sister, and that Tua has not a drop of native blood. Alan, in death, is even closer to his foster brother George; Tua now links them in blood. George takes his nephew, renamed Theo, with the General to England.