When a young man, John Groberg (Gorham), is sent on a three-year mission to Tonga, he has no idea what he is getting into. In fact, just getting to Tonga is fraught with danger and unbelievable obstacles. Once there, he finds himself in the midst of a culture as remote to him as the island is to his Idaho Falls home. Not understanding the language and lonely for the girl he left behind, Jean (Hathaway), John faces suspicion, distress, typhoons, tidal waves, mosquitoes, and other perils of man and nature as he reaches out to the people of Tonga.