The film opens by showing the only son of a family leaving home to go aboard a ship. We next see him on the shore, talking to the captain, who, at first objects to having him take the dog, but at last consents. The next scene shows him sitting on the larboard side of the ship playing and kissing his dog. In the meantime the captain observes one of his sailors smoking a pipe, who objects to stop smoking at the command of the captain. The captain forcibly takes away the pipe from the sailor and throws it overboard. We next see the sailors in a group planning to kill the captain. The little cabin boy overhears their conversation and conveys his message to the captain, who goes after the crew with a pistol. They are frightened and remark that they will be good. But they do not, for they capture the little cabin boy and put him in a rowboat and leave him destitute on a barren island. In the meantime the captain notices that there is something wrong with the dog, who is vainly trying to get over the high fence at the side of the boat. The door is opened for the dog, who immediately jumps overboard, and the men follow quickly in pursuit. They discover the boy on the island, and so the film ends.
—Moving Picture World synopsis