[2] In the story, two people, from different cultural and racial backgrounds, are the only survivors of a ship that encounters a hurricane in the Pacific, and they remain together.
"The second sea filled the Petite Jeanne's decks flush with the rails, and, as her stern sank down and her bow tossed skyward, all the miserable dunnage of life and luggage poured aft.
The Petite Jeanne is destroyed in the hurricane, and Charley survives by clinging to a hatch cover from the boat, sharing it with a Kanaka named Otoo.
Eventually Charley loses consciousness, and comes to on the beach of an atoll; Otoo has saved his life by pulling him from the water.
In a 2006 collection of stories by London including "The Heathen", the editors comment: "In the early 1940s, when this story found its way into fiction anthologies and high school textbooks, it was admired for its fiercely detailed picture of a storm at sea and for its courageous examination of a friendship that transcended cultural and racial differences....
[3] It is noteworthy, for example, that the two friends are involved for much of their career in Blackbirding and feel no moral compunction about this activity, and that the term "nigger" is repeatedly used throughout the story.