Upon returning home from school one day, Lotus Blossom, a Japanese orphan who lives on the island of Hilo in Hawaii and teaches at a native school, discovers Parker, nearly dead from hunger. Believing his story of a shipwreck, Lotus nurses him back to health and then, mistaking loneliness for love, agrees to marry her patient. Soon tiring of her, Parker deserts her and assumes a new identity. Later, Lotus falls in love with Komo, a visiting Japanese artist, and follows him to America. There she accepts a job as a companion to Mrs. Stanwood. When Mr. Stanwood returns from a business trip, Lotus is shocked to discover that he is her former husband but decides to remain silent. Stanwood, distrusting her silence, attempts to kill her by poisoning her incense. Before Lotus succumbs to the deadly fumes, Komo arrives, and in the ensuing fight, Stanwood is locked in Lotus's room and dies by the deadly smoke that he had intended for Lotus.