Photographs illustrate the author's account of his voyage from Peru to Tahiti on a balsa raft to test a theory concerning the origins of the Polynesian race.

Based on a true story. Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean in a balsa wood raft in 1947, together with five men, to prove that South Americans back in pre-Columbian times could have crossed the sea to settle on Polynesian islands. After gathering financing for the trip with loans and donations, they set off on an epic 101-day-long journey across eight thousand kilometers, all while the world was watching.