Story Summary

It is the story of young John Barret an active sportsman, who with his friends Bob Mabberly and Giles Jackman sail off on a vacation in Bob's father's yacht and are promptly ship-wrecked on a Scottish isle. The entire crew is saved and John is sent off to find help. He does so in the young Tonald (Donald) who guides him to one of the small villages on the island.

The next day, John travels to Kinlossie to tell the Laird of the island the story of their ship-wreck, and on the way there, he finds a young girl lying unconscious on the road. He carries her on to the mansion where he finds that she is the Laird's niece.

The Laird immediately invites the entire shipwrecked party to spend several months at his house, which they do, and John and Milly (the niece) promptly fall in love over botany. Their engagement is endangered, however, when Milly's mother arrives and John discovers that she is a woman with whom he has had a previous dealing, from which she escaped unharmed but indignant.