After spending some years wandering about the East and engaging in various adventures, Axel Heyst, a man of independent means who feels little sense of attachment to the world, retreats to a tropical island, where he lives in virtual isolation, accompanied only by his books. Complications arise when, on a rare trip back to civilization, Heyst encounters a young lady musician who is being pursued by the lustful hotel keeper and notorious gossip Schomberg. Before long, Axel Heyst is faced with the realization that the demands of the world on a man who would simply be left alone cannot be so easily side-stepped.