John Hawthorn is a young doctor looking for a quiet life. He moves to a sleepy Cornish village after losing his family, as well as having suffered the traumas of the birth of the NHS in a busy London hospital. When the body of a beautiful young woman is found in a sealed compartment of a wrecked battleship, his life is thrown into turmoil as he is transported across time to eight incarnations of the ship in as many centuries. Never really sure what he is looking for on this crazy quest, he winds up understanding a great deal about his own past and future, as well as that of the ships and the world on which he lives.