Act One (Scenes 1 - 5)

The basis of the story is a chart of a mysterious Pacific Island on which treasure is said to be hidden. News of this chart is revealed by Larry Pound (a convict serving a long stretch) to one Scruffy Briggs.

The chart is in the possession of John Forrester, and an attempt at burglary is made. But Forrester is found murdered in his study, and at the auction of his belongings the chart is bought by Jack Rendall, who is in love with Forrester's niece, Kay.

Scruffy Briggs, obliged to divulge what he knows of the hidden treasure, joins forces with Jack, Kay and a dour scot named Peter Bogle in an expedition to locate Liquid Gold Island. The party set sail in the "June Rose".

Act One (Scenes 5 - 10)

Meanwhile Robert Rutherford, who is also in love with Kay, determines that the expedition shall meet with disaster. He hires a makeshift crew with instructions to seize possession of the "June Rose" at a given time. But in a dense fog the ship is rammed and sunk by the S.S. "Heliopolis". Jack and KAy, with various members of the crew, are saved and taken on board the "Heliopolis", where they pass under assumed names.

When orders come to the captain to arrest them on the charge of stealing the "June Rose", they escape in a seaplane and arrive on Liquid Gold Island.

Act Two (Scenes 1 - 5)

Rutherford, who has followed them as far as Panama City, extracts the whereabouts of the island from Scruffy Briggs, and is soon on their trail, accompanied by Clarence the Dodger, a renegade parson and fellow convict of Scruffy's.

In the meantime, Jack's party has been kidnapped by hostile natives. They escape death by means of an ingenious trick of Bogle's, who has concealed himself inside a sacred idol. The parties converge on the disused oil well, and an explosive placed in the shaft to wreck any hopes of striking oil actually succeeds in bringing the gusher to life.

Rutherford, who has taken Jack prisoner, tells Kay that the only way she can save her lover's life is by marrying him. But Clarence, revealing that he is the husband of the woman whom Rutherford betrayed many years ago, engages Rutherford in a struggle to the death. Together they hurtle over the cliff's edge, leaving Jack and Kay the undisputed possessors of the oil well.