The novel tells about the fall of Peter Willems. He is a bad man, and has a bad reputation. On the run from a scandal in Makassar, he finds a place to hide in a hidden native village. However, he betrays the people who are helping him, because of lust for the tribal chief's daughter. The story features the character Tom Lingard, who Conrad uses lots, and also appears in "Almayer's Folly" (1895) and "The Rescue" (1920). It shares other characters with those novels.