Town is scandalized when a known Boston prostitute is rescued off a shipwrecked boat in a storm, even more so when their aspiring engaged parson personally cares for her. Woman alludes to being molested by her stepfather and having had a child. She boards a ship for a voyage she thinks to Rio de Janeiro but it's actually a convict ship with a lecherous captain. He attempts to take liberties but she resists to fending him off with a knife.