A collection of tales set against the background of the South Pacific, the endless ocean, the coral specks called islands, the coconut palms, the lagoons, the jungles and the full moon rising against the volcanoes. The tales are told by a young naval officer whose duties on an Admiral's staff take him up and down the islands. He meets many people: the servicemen and the locals, and listens to their stories - the remittance man who lived among the Japs and radioed their movements until one fateful and dramatic morning; Bloody Mary, the Tonkinese woman who introduced her daughter to a young marine lieutenant; Emile de Becque , the French planter who fell in love with an American nurse; Tony Fry, the individualist who fought a very personal war in his own very effective way; Lieutenant Bill Harbison, who lived like a hero but was really a louse; and the young enlisted man from Ohio, going to pieces until a Sea Bee have him a reason to live.