Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, travel writer, and essayist. His most famous works are "Treasure Island" and "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde". Now he is one of the most translated authors in the world. The story of "The Beach of Falesa" is told from John Wiltshires point of view, a British copra trader on the fictional island of Falesa in the South Sea. There he meets a trader Case, who arranges a marriage for him and a local girl Uma. After that John discovers that Uma has a taboo which makes all the other natives refuse to trade with him. Soon Wiltshire finds out that Case may have arranged the deaths of his competitors.