The story of Elam Harnish, a gold prospector and adventurer nicknamed Time-Won't-Wait, who "was a gambler by nature, and life seemed to him to be a most exciting game." In the course of this game for wealth and power, he becomes cynical and heartless. Having become a successful businessman, he lives and acts according to the laws of the jungle. A change comes over him after he meets stenographer Did Mason. Based on the novel of the same name by Jack London.