The story takes place in August 1883. Scrooge exports some cattle from Montana to Indonesia but encounters a thief and meets his old friend Ratchet Gearloose from his Riverboat days. Then he becomes part of a spectacular trip aboard the clipper ship Cutty Sark on August 26, 1883. However, Krakatoa becomes more active, and soon enough, the volcano violently explodes. Scrooge and Gearloose have to ride out the pyroclastic flow, tsunami, and the falling pumice.