Though renowned for her passionate engagement with life, privately she yearns for freedom, a life of integrity and love - whatever the cost. The peace Lady Dona craves, however, eludes her from the moment she stumbles across the mooring-place of a white-sailed ship that plunders the Cornish coast. And as she becomes embroiled in a plot to steal another ship from under the nose of the English authorities, she realises that her own heart is under siege from the French philosopher-pirate, Jean Aubrey . . .