Spider, a decent man forced into the violent pirate life years ago, is finally on the verge of leaving all that behind and reuniting with his wife, Emma, and the son he last saw as a baby. He and his friends - Odin the ancient buccaneer and Hob the young swashbuckler - are working as honest seamen aboard Minuet when the calm journey from England to Nantucket takes a dark turn. A shipmate is murdered while working aloft, and Spider can't help but try to figure out who the killer is - even as his friend Odin warns him that getting involved might lead authorities to discover Spider's own piratical past.