On the merchanter ship Aprite, Thomas Bowe Hawkins is an outcast, a reminder of the long-ago rape of his mother by the captain of a rival ship. For years, his mother Marie has planned revenge against his father. As Thomas tries to stop her, he discovers his half-brother, and finds himself in a deadly confrontation with a dangerous man--his father.
Cargo Chief Marie Hawkins' obsessive vendetta against Captain Austin Bowe sparks a blood feud until Marie disappears, and when her son, Tom, tries to find her, he is shanghaied by Bowe's crewmen, and learns the truth of his mother's hate.