When Helen Edge leaves Australia, she feels at last free from past unhappiness. Only twenty years old and joint heir to the successful Caribee Shipping Line, Helen undertakes her first duty for the firm -- to safeguard delivery of a cargo to Singapore. She discovers a strong affinity with the ship's captain, Dennis Moore, and a love of the sea. But disaster strikes -- the ship is hijacked by Indonesian revolutionaries and Helen suddenly finds herself a prisoner. But her indomitable mother, Joanna, is not about to give up her only daughter without a fight.