Faith Coffin, anguished after her lover drowns, confesses to her brother Job, a religious fanatic, that she is pregnant. After Faith gives birth, Job drives her to suicide by taking her to a secluded lighthouse in the Florida Keys where she jumps to her death. Job keeps Faith's daughter Eve from human contact until, at twenty, she is kissed by Jim Smooth, a half-witted sailor. The kiss awakens her to feelings which develop further when she assists a widow giving birth on a nearby yacht and falls in love with Philip Blake, the yacht captain. After Philip takes the widow home and returns, Job locks Eve in the lighthouse and says that she is dead. Smooth, now Philip's mate, attacks Eve when she has been released and in turn locks Job in the tower. After Philip saves Eve, they find Job dead from heart failure which occurred when he tried to get out of the tower to rescue Eve.