Young Jim Hawkins lives a quiet life as the son of an innkeeper. This all changes when an ancient sailor takes up lodging at the inn. Jim is both horrified and fascinated by the captain's bloody stories. When the old man dies without paying his bill, Jim must search the sailor's one possession, a large sea-chest, for payment. He unknowingly pockets an old map from the chest. But Jim is not the only one interested in the sea-chest and has to flee when a group of cut-throats appears to ransack the few possessions of the old sailor.