Still grieving the loss of her husband, Morwenna Penvenan fills her days preserving her son's heritage: the dilapidated estate his father left them. But all attempts at restoration are thwarted when she is accused of deliberately causing ships to crash on her shore in order to steal their cargo. While seeking clues to the true culprits, she finds an unconscious man wearing a medallion with the Penvenan crest enameled upon it.
Upon learning of his father's death, David pursues answers to the many questions left in his father's wake: Why was his father in Cornwall when he said he would be in Scotland? Why did he die in possession of a medallion belonging to a prominent Cornwall family? Why did his father take money from the family's ship-building business? And why did someone kill him? Only after waking up at the Penvenan estate under Morwenna's care do the pieces start falling together.