Set in the late 19th century, it centres on the life of the Dutch trader Kaspar Almayer in the Borneo jungle and his relationship to his mixed heritage daughter Nina.
Almayer's Folly is about a poor Dutch colonial trader who dreams of finding a hidden gold mine and becoming very wealthy.
They live in the village of Sambir, based on Tanjung Redeb in the Berau Regency of the East Kalimantan province, Indonesia.
Now, Almayer continually goes out for long trips, but eventually he stops doing so and stays home with his hopeless daydreams of riches and splendor.
When he does return, he goes straight to Lakamba, a Malayan Rajah, and tells him that he found the gold mine and that some Dutchmen had captured his ship.
All alone, Almayer breaks all his furniture in his home office, piles it in the centre of the room, and sets fire to it, burning the entire house to the ground along with it.
As Conrad's earliest novel, Almayer's Folly is often seen by critics as inferior to the author's later work because of its repetitive and at times awkward language.