Island Fever is the story of two women, Pauline Bonaparte Leclerc and her fictional Lady in Waiting, Odette Boucher. Both woman accompany their husbands on the ill fated expedition to San Domingue (modern day Haiti) to put down the rebellion of the former slaves led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. Pauline was possibly the most promiscuous woman in history, in contrast to Odette's modest and retiring nature. Pauline needed sex as much as she needed air, while Odette trapped in an arranged marriage, shrank from the embraces of her brute of a husband. The action plays out against the fierce fight by the French to wrest the former French territory back for Napoleon, from the long and arduous sea voyage to the capital at LeCap and Odette's plantation, La Colline Verte, up in the hills above the town.. One woman's journey ends in tragedy, the other, in a joyful and fruitful union with the man of her dreams.