Mimi Bennett, who is half-Tahitian and half-American, lives with her wealthy aunt, Kate Bennett, in one of the most elegant villas on the island of Tahiti. Despite her comfortable life, Mimi wants to give up her tropical surroundings for a new life in America. One day, while joining some of the natives as they give their traditional customary greeting to arriving ships, Mimi catches the attention of Hazard Endicott, an American schoolteacher from Ohio, who has inherited his uncle's island plantation. Hazard mistakes Mimi for one of the non-English-speaking natives, and instead of correcting Hazard, Mimi makes a joke of the misunderstanding and pretends to know only a limited amount of English. When Hazard tries to hire Mimi as his personal maid, Mimi uses broken English to tell him that she is already working in a large house. Hazard arrives at his new home a short time later, and is greatly disappointed to discover that the "estate" he inherited is a small, dilapidated shack in need of repairs and a bathtub. Mimi, meanwhile, returns to her aunt's for tea, and they are joined by the Countess Mariani. During the tea, Mimi describes Hazard to the two women and gives them a subtle indication that she is attracted to him. After quickly acclimating to his new surroundings, Hazard hires two natives, Tavae and Teuru, to help him rebuild the plantation. One day, Hazard enters his home to find a native women, Mama Ruau, cradling a pig in her arms. Mama Ruau gives Hazard her pig as a gift and tells him that she appreciates his intellect and wants him to continue typing his beautiful words. The pig later escapes but Mimi catches it and returns it to him with an invitation to a party at her house. Hazard accepts the invitation, though he assumes that Mimi is a maid at the villa. Expecting the guests to be only natives, Hazard arrives dressed scantily in Tahitian island attire. He is thoroughly embarrassed, however, when he discovers that the guests are mostly non-natives who are dressed formally. He leaves the party in a hurry, and Mimi, realizing that her joke has gone far enough, catches up with him and reveals the truth about herself. Later, Mama Ruau invokes an old island tradition and offers her young grandson, Papera, to Hazard as a gift, hoping that Papera will learn from Hazard and grow up to become a smart young man. Hazard finds the custom appalling but eventually adopts the boy and they become fast friends. Following his success with Papera, Hazard adopts two more children, Manu and Tani, and teaches all three of them how to speak English. At the same time, Hazard and Mimi's friendship develops into a romance. When Hazard proposes marriage, Mimi decides to give up her plans to go to America and become his island wife. Their romance continues to blossom until the day when Mimi witnesses Hazard unfairly reprimanding Tavae for not having saved the plantation's crop of copra from the ravages of a rainstorm. Mimi protests Hazard's harsh treatment of Tavae and a break-up ensues. Hazard later realizes that Mimi was right, but they remain separated. Feeling responsible for the break-up, Tavae and Teuru try to catch enough fish to repay Hazard for his lost crop and devise a plan to reunite him with Mimi. Their plan is a success, and Mimi and Hazard reconcile and look forward to a happy future together on Tahiti.
