A young Dutch trader, Kaspar Almayer, marries Captain Lingard's adopted Malay daughter in the hopes of one day inheriting the captain's wealth. He moves to Borneo to run Lingard's trading post there, but while the captain is frittering away his fortune on a hopeless treasure hunt, Almayer's ventures fail, one after the other. In the hotpot of isolation, colonialism and frustrated desire, naming Almayer's true folly becomes complicated.