Destiny's Isle

A serrated bolt of Floridian lightning cleaves a jaunty mahogany speedboat and flings its lovelorn pilot, Tom, onto an uncharted key where mangrove roots knit a cathedral of salt and secrecy. Scarred both in rib and in pride—he has just spied his erstwhile belle Florence draped over his nemesis—he wakes to the antiseptic scent of iodine and wild guava, ministered by Lola, the island physician’s sun-bronzed daughter whose pulse calibrates more accurately than any mainland chronometer. To bamboozle Florence and her hovering trustee, Tom improvises a paper marriage, branding Lola as “Mrs. Castaway.” The charade combusts when Florence, stung by counterfeit jealousy, attempts to handcuff Tom to a trumped-up felony; Lola, sphinx-like, steps into the shackles, trading her freedom for his. In the resulting courtroom tempest the rival unmasks Florence’s machination, and the film resolves with Tom pledging authentic vows to the woman who once stitched his shoulder with catgut and moonlight.