When legendary hunter Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) is shipwrecked on the perilous reefs surrounding a mysterious island, he finds himself the guest of the reclusive and eccentric Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks). While he is very gracious at first, Zaroff eventually forces Rainsford and two other shipwreck survivors, brother and sister Eve (Fay Wray) and Martin Trowbridge (Robert Armstrong), to participate in a sadistic game of cat and mouse in which they are the prey, and he is the hunter.