Fisherman Eerik Storm agrees to become a smuggler's pilot in order to get money to save his home.
In Erkki Karu's silent film Myrskyluodon kalastaja (1924), fisherman Eerik Storm is in danger of losing his home and agrees to become a smuggler's pilot in order to get money. When the smugglers are ambushed by the customs men, a chase and gunfight ensue, leaving the smugglers stranded in the water. At the cost of his life, Eerik saves the customs officers. The film ends with the engagement party of Eerik and Kirst, the daughter of the pilot's eldest daughter.
A young fisherman, Eerik Storm, lives with his widowed wife in the archipelago and is involved with Kirsti, the daughter of the pilot's daughter, who is also the object of the village merchant Strutberg's affections. Eerik and his mother owe their cottage to the patroon Ström, who will collect his debt within a week: otherwise, he will sell the cottage to a cash buyer. When Jysky, the leader of the smugglers posing as a hunting party, offers Eerik a job as a pilot and a good salary, Eerik, despite his disgust and his mother's suspicions, accepts the job and is able to use the money to immediately pay off his debt to Ström.
Eerik bids farewell to Kirsti, who has fallen prey to Strutberg's advances on her trading trip, and leaves for Helsinki. From the southern harbor, the smugglers head for the barge and take the cargo: Eerik's task is to pilot the motorboat through the archipelago to the safe bottom of the bay. On the way, the smugglers catch up with a customs boat but manage to shake it off its heels, unload the cargo, and disguise themselves as a hunting party before the customs officers arrive and, after inspecting the boat, are forced to leave empty-handed. After the interruption, Jysky tells Eerik that Strutberg is running a smuggling operation in the archipelago, while we see images of the various methods by which the smuggled liquor is spread throughout the country, as well as descriptions of the curses of liquor.
However, the customs officers are ambushed at the mouth of the narrow strait and set off again in pursuit after the smugglers have transferred the cargo back to the boat and are about to continue their journey. At gunpoint, Jysky forces Eerik to steer the boat through the strait and out into the stormy sea. During the chase, a customs officer acting as co-pilot is wounded in the arm by a rifle shot from one of the smugglers: the boat crashes against a rock, capsizes, and explodes, leaving the men stranded in the water. In the other boat, Eerik manages at the same time to free himself from Jysky and dive into the sea, but on reaching the shore he is wounded in the shoulder by Jysky's shot. The smugglers try to reach Eerik, who is able to incapacitate the two pursuers. From a nearby cottage, Eerik calls for reinforcements, sets off alone in a boat to help the customs officers, and rescues them, while Jysky and his men escape by boat to the sea. The stranded men are transferred to a tugboat, which brings them to the shore of Eerik's home island: 'Without Eerik, we would have been buried in the turmoil, every man,' a customs officer praises.
Under the care of Kirsti and his mother, Eerik will recover in a few weeks. One Saturday, Eerik and Kirsti are due to dance at their engagement party. As the crowd cheers, Eerik and Kirsti come into view, the customs officers take Eerik in their arms and throw him into the air. Patruna Ström returns a fully signed bill of sale to Eerik, making him the legal master of the Stormy Hollow. As the crowd dances on the pier, a drunken Strutberg tries to approach Kirst, but Eerik hits him so that he falls into the sea, where he is swum out to the public's delight before being let go with his legs between his legs. In a serene atmosphere, Eerik and Kirsti return to their shared home.
