During the Napoleonic War of 1815, a French warship is wrecked on a remote part of the Fife coast. A local family give shelter to the apparent sole survivor of the shipwreck, but they soon suspect that this is not the ordinary seaman he claims to be. When a casket of gold disappears from the wrecked ship, they find themselves entangled in a web of intrigue and mystery. The play mixes comedy with drama and a touch of romance as events reach a happy climax, but not before some tense moments and more than a few surprises.