The story is about a "sprawling, episodic adventure story, a comedy of brash manners and something of a detective mystery". It revolves around the abandoned wreck of the Flying Scud at Midway Island. Clues in a stamp collection are used to track down the missing crew and solve the mystery. It is only in the last chapter that different story elements become linked.[2] Stevenson described it as a "South Sea yarn" concerning "a very strange and defective plan that was accepted with open eyes for what seemed countervailing opportunities offered". Although the book sold well, reviews were mixed, with a The New York Times reviewer concluding that.