A Japanese fishing vessel in 1841 sinks and its crew swims to a small unknown island to be rescued by a passing American ship. At the time, the Japanese borders were closed to all western nations so the Japanese sailors are frightened of their captors. They cannot return to Japan because the western ship will not be allowed into port, and even if it was, the fishing crew would end up in prison (or even put to death) as associates of the west. So the crew goes off to America with the western ship...