An aging United States consul, long posted to remote and unhealthy harbors, presides over a small expatriate community where his courtesy and steadiness restore order to listless men. Increasingly alienated from a homeland that has moved on and reduced in rank, he nonetheless keeps up the consulate’s duties amid the town’s monotonous, fever-prone routine. When wireless reports warn of an approaching hurricane and a yacht carrying a powerful senator is feared missing, naval vessels are dispatched and the consul must report, thrusting political urgency and responsibility into the fragile daily life of the isolated port.