Ostensibly a novel, the story is closely based on the author's four-month sojourn with a group of South Sea Islanders, the Typees, after he and a companion deserted their whaling ship. Initially the two Americans are charmed and fascinated by the exotic life of the Typees - their physical beauty, the ragal bearing of their warriors, the gracefulness of their women - and embrace with enthusiasm thir food and customs. And yet the land of the Typees is not quite paradise: the two men are guests who may not leave, and gradually they learn of customs of a more chilling nature, making their escape from this tropical paradise a necessity.