“You're crazy, Shadrach Faherty,” Davey called. “Crazy! You're going to get yourself killed!”

Shadrach is enraged. Bootleggers have taken over his island home, using it as a base from which to run their illegal operations. The community cooperates because its silence has been bought, and times are hard. But Shadrach can't be bought. Instead, he vows to gather all the information he can to bust the criminals. He succeeds, but then chooses the wrong man to tell.

Living on a poor island in 1932, a young boy determines, despite his family's bitter opposition, to identify and somehow bring to justice the liquor smugglers who have been terrorizing the island.