A 32 year-old Hawaiian woman, Piilani, is detained by the sheriff of west Kauai in 1896. She is questioned as an accomplice in the killing of the sheriff's predecessor, during which she tells her story:

Six years earlier, Piilani's husband Koolau was diagnosed with leprosy. Refusing to be relocated to Molokai and leave his wife and son, Koolau led his family to a remote valley, where other lepers on Kauai had already exiled themselves.

They briefly lived in peace, until the Hawaiian Queen was deposed. With the new Provisional Government's blessing, the sheriff of west Kauai, Louis Stolz, left his jurisdiction and followed Koolau into the valley. When Stolz attempted an ambush, he was shot twice by Koolau and died.

The government retaliated with a force of thirty-eight men, armed with rifles and a howitzer. For two weeks the army fired on Koolau and his family, yet neither captured or harmed them. Defeated, the army returned to Honolulu with three dead soldiers.

Fearing bounty hunters, the family hid in the wilderness, rarely making contact with others. They survived harsh weather and scarce food, caring for one another until the boy, and then Koolau, died from the disease. Piilani then returned to their home in West Kauai, certain that she would face the gallows as an accomplice in Stolz's death.

Piilani finishes telling her story to the new sheriff. Fearing for her life, she waits for his judgment. Remarkably, he let's her go free.