Along the jagged Cornish coast there"s a town filled with people known as the "wreckers" who think nothing of luring ships onto the rocks during storms and salvaging the loot from the wreckage. One constraint is that there must be no survivors left to claim the goods. Young John Spencer, aboard his father"s ship The Isle of Skye, is exhilarated as the cargo-laden ship tries to outrun a storm. The ship is instead dashed onto the Cornwall shore. John manages to survive, and uses his wits to stay away from the murderous villagers while he also tries to discover what"s happened to his father.