In this spirited and romantic saga of high adventure, a young heir named David Balfour meets his miserly uncle Ebenezer, who has illegally taken control of the Balfour estate. Ebenezer kidnaps David and plots to have him seized and sold into slavery on a ship to the Carolinas.

A couple of days into the voyage, a shipwreck throws David together with Alan Breck, a roguish Scotsman returning from political exile in France, and the two of them journey together. When they are witnesses to a murder, suspicion falls on them. What follows is a thrilling escape to freedom across the wild Scottish highlands.