Peter Thornton returns to the fold-straight into the thick of a row between the New Zealand government and Mogul over the shifting of a drilling rig from that country to Indonesia. Why should Thornton want to return to do Stead's dirty work? Because he wants to win a seat on the Mogul Board. Also, the man who is leading a mutiny on the rig is an old mate, Ed Ahu Riri.
Ultimately, the friendship proves to be a hindrance rather than a help and Thornton's loyalties are stretched to breaking point.

Stead sends Peter Thornton to a Caribbean island paradise-where he is taken prisoner! 'King' George Watt is the benign but powerful ruler of the island and if he says he doesn'want a Mogul invasion, there won'be one. He is supported by a French woman anthropologist, Dr. Yvette Leduc, who is dangerously using the islanders in a sociological experiment. She doesn'want Mogul there either, and it is she who triggers off an explosive situation by helping Peter Thornton escape.