The maritime rivalry between the United States and Great Britain in the middle decades of the nineteenth century has been used as the basis for the story, which begins when the youthful Queen Victoria bids God-speed to Lord Huntington, whose clipper is about to sail on her maiden voyage to China. From Boston, The Yankee Clipper also sets sail for Foochow, under command of her owner's son, Hal Winslow (played by a pre-Hopalong Cassidy William Boyd). In the Orient he meets Jocelyn Huntington, unmasks her craven fiancé, falls in love with her, and enters the Yankee Clipper in a race to Boston with the British vessel, the stake being Foochow's tea trade. A silent masterpiece from producer Cecil B. DeMille.