Although Margaret "Peg" Martyn of the Carolina territory loves Terry, a poor poet, her father, Sir Wyndham Martyn, wishes her to marry the ancient Arthur Elliott. At the engagement party, Peg's wish that "the pirates might get her" comes true when Captain Bones and his men ransack Martyn's estate and carry Peg off to their ship. The most vicious mate of the crew, Flatnose Tim, wants to kill Peg, so to save herself, she feigns death. The pirates are about to bury her in their secret treasure cave when she fools them into believing that she is a ghost. After Tim discovers her deception, however, she is taken back to the ship, where Terry, now commanding his own ship and crew, rescues her. Impressed with Terry's bravery, Sir Martyn finally blesses the poet's marriage to his daughter, after which the couple returns to the cave to retrieve the pirate treasure.