The Time: The golden age of piracy - 1716 The Place: The pirate round - from Africa to the Caribbean At 15 Jesamiah Acorne escapes the bullying of his elder half brother to become a pirate with only two loves - the sea and his freedom. But his life is to change after an attack on a merchant ship off the coast of South Africa when he meets the mysterious Tiola Oldstagh, an insignificant girl - or so he assumes until he discovers her true identity, that of a white witch. Tiola and Jesamiah becomes lovers, but the wealthy Stefan van Overstratten also wants Tiola as his wife. Meanwhile, Jesamiah's half-brother, Phillipe Mereno, is determined to seek revenge for resentments of the past. When the call of the sea and an opportunity to commandeer a beautiful ship, the Sea Witch, is put in Jesamiah's path he must choose between his life as a pirate or his love for Tiola. He wants both - but Mereno and van Overstratten want him dead.Tiola must use her gift of Craft to rescue her lover, but first she must brave the darkness of the ocean depths and confront the supernatural presence of Tethys, the goddess of the sea, who will stop at nothing to claim the soul of Jesamiah Acorne for herself.