A highly if rather unsuccessfully fictionalized version of how United States rule came to the island of Guam in 1898 in the person of the First U. S.- appointed Gubranador, the shiftless though educated beachcomber, Peter Borne. Peter takes up his duties fired with a fine idealism and eager to carry out all necessary reforms without the slightest delay, but he is not man enough to surmount the dizzying impact that strikes men suddenly elevated to high power. He fights with the Catholic Church, succeeds in alienating the hitherto friendly populace and becomes in the end a virtual dictator whose lust after a beautiful woman lands him in the leper colony of Igaret. Surface characterizations and a too-hastily unfolded story leave the reader somewhat unconvinced.