A treacherous paradise

In 1904, Hanna Renström escapes the brutal poverty of rural Sweden for a job as a cook onboard a steamship headed for Australia. She finds love in the form of the ship's mate, whom she marries, but disaster strikes when her husband is struck down almost immediately by a fatal illness. Jumping ship at the African port of Lourenço Marques, Hanna decides to begin her life anew. Stumbling across what she believes to be a down-at-heel hotel, Hanna becomes embroiled in a sequence of events that lead to her inheriting the most successful brothel in town.