Overwhelmed by his kindness after her father's sudden death, June Ainslee promises to marry Grant Farnsworth, a wealthy Sydney business man. Farnsworth's financial interests in the East Indies call him north, and he persuades June to make the trip with him, taking Vera Connors as chaperone. On the ship - The Arafura - they meet Roy Willoughby, a young surveyor, to whom June finds herself attracted, too late realising that her feeling for Farnsworth is not love, but gratitude. The steamer founders in a storm at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Farnswoth, Willoughby and June reach Arnhem Land in one of the ship's lifeboats. They go a little distance inland to reconnoitre, but when they return to the boat, it has been burnt.