Fourteen years ago, John Rackham's mother spent a single night with Billy Jack Thatcher, the pirate she loved. The next morning he was gone, never to be heard from again, his only memory the child growing within her. Now he has unexpectedly returned with a tale of treachery and betrayal. In the years between he has turned privateer for the British, returning the treasures he had taken. Fourteen years of penance. One last treasure remains and John's father is a free man - and he wants John to accompany him to witness his final redemption.