In the late-1930s, the young Heyerdahl set out with his new wife for paradise - a natural, unspoiled world they sought and, to a degree, found in the South Pacific. It would be the first of many journeys, which were to lead to worldwide fame and renown for Heyerdahl. This account of the time he spent on remote Fatu-Hiva is based on journals he kept at the time and describes his and his wife's hopes, adventures, encounters with islanders both friendly and alarming, and the spells of time when a Garden of Eden seemed truly theirs in spite of the inevitable intrusion of less idyllic realities. Heyerdahl's impassioned plea for mankind to stop polluting the oceans and earth forms a memorable part of the book.