Raised on a colonial New Hampshire farm by their secretive father, teen-age twins John and Sarah, especially Sarah, wonder about what their mother was like. A botched kidnapping and a desperate maritime chase down the Atlantic seaboard brutally brings that wonder to reality. It also results in the twins learning about and having to deal with their parents' sordid past and involvement with piracy and the colonial system that encourages it. Can they and their parents survive the ordeal?