In this first of his adventures, Ki-Gor, a Rousseauian primitive who has been living alone in the jungles of Africa since he was a young boy, crosses the path of a beautiful young woman whose skin is also curiously pale like his own. Slowly they learn to communicate and fall in love as they are menaced by slavers, warrior tribes and the deadliest of jungle beasts.
The woman, Helene, who falls in love with the likable primitive, is an unusually strong figure in her own right for a pulp magazine heroine of the time. At the conclusion of the story, they set off with their elephant, Marmo, for who knows what future adventures.