Having impulsively thrown away his chance for forbidden love with Mystie Waters, Clifton Stewart knew he had made a mistake. Forsaking his family fortune, he signed on as a crewman with the TEMPEST QUEEN to search for the mysterious chambermaid. His search was interrupted by an assault that left him with amnesia and Captain Hamilton's beloved boat vulnerable to a gang of hard bitten river pirates. Stewart recovers and with the aid of his friend, the gambler Dexter McKay, they even the odds in a massive struggle for the boat and its cargo.