London, 1763: Gifted musician and medical apprentice Michael Shea is living rough after being blackballed from working as a surgeon’s assistant. Not only does Michael lose his gig playing fiddle in a tavern, he also is framed for the murder of a tavern patron visiting from colonial Virginia. Worse, Michael realizes his ladylove wasn’t interested in true love. He was just a divertissement.

Heartbroken and out of options, Michael and his friend Danny escape the turmoil by shipping out on the misnamed brig The Delight as lowly indentured servants. On board are forty-eight other desperate souls—everyday people risking their lives to immigrate to the wilds of America, hoping for a better life in the New World where they can break free of a rigid class system, prejudice, and poverty. Michael’s medical skills prove critical as the passengers endure the ravages of the long trans-Atlantic journey from London to Annapolis: killer storms, accidents, sickness, and Barbary raiders. While attending to the sick, Michael realizes that he has not yet escaped the murder for which he was framed—and that the real killer will do anything to keep his identity a secret.