Former indentured servants settle on a small island off the coast of Carolina in hopes of starting a new life. They are plagued by fishermen who claim the island for their own. A woman's husband is killed in an attack and stranger Jacob Webber (James Mason) is washed ashore. He claims to be the only survivor of an attack by pirates. When the merciless Kingstree (Neville Brand) is employed by the attackers, a seaman named Nicolas (Rip Torn) decries the impending violence and is throw off the boat to die. He makes it to the island where he falls in with the settlers to defend against the invasion. Kingstree discovers Webber is the former henchman of Blackbeard the pirate. Kingstree is killed by Nicolas, the man he threw off the boat. Webber flees the wrath of the settlers and rejoins his band of bloodthirsty buccaneers to escape death once again. The film is produced, directed and written by Leslie Stevens.