Titaÿna is 23 years old when she heads out alone, in the 1920s, to seek adventure in the Pacific. There, as an apprentice sailor on a schooner, she travels from island to island meeting locals, learning their stories and customs. Along the way, she also meets many Europeans who, like her, longed for adventure and landed on these seemingly paradisiacal shores without ever managing to fulfill their dreams. After adventure comes disillusion.
Like a travel diary told in reverse with sharp and poetic language, Titaÿna describes her behind-the-scenes life as an adventurer and shares a raw, modern view of the colonists who set out for these much-fantasized lands.