The year is 1709. Dolph's father has been murdered, and to provide for his widowed mother, Dolph takes a position as assistant to the eccentric Dr. Knipperhausen, of New York City, where he soon discovers the doctor is in possession of an amulet with magical powers. When he accompanies the doctor on a riverboat up the Hudson River to Communipaw, a quaint little Dutch settlement, he is suddenly thrown into a world of goblins, spirits, Indians, pirates both living and dead, and falls in love with the beautiful Amy Webber, who he must rescue from an ancient cavern filled with all manner of fantastic dangers, and where he is finally given the opportunity to avenge his father.