In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks in the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half-brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them. Chronicling three generations of their family, this is a novel of love and magic set against the emergence of Saint Thomas into the modern world.