The yacht Phoenix is found drifting off the coast of South Africa. There is no one aboard. With her father missing, presumed dead, Justine de Villiers is flown out to sea to pick up the yacht. Justine takes only the Phoenix as her inheritance and sets out to sail alone into the Atlantic Ocean, casting herself adrift from all that is familiar and safe. Vulnerable, but craving self-sufficiency, she falls in love with two men - the solid, dependable Heron, and the unfettered Luis, a man of half-truths and dangerous secrets. When Luis is imprisoned on the island of Saint Helena, Justine is manipulated into helping him escape. Again at sea, she finds herself trapped in the Phoenix's cramped quarters with a man she barely knows. A man who is sliding into madness. A man who will not hesitate to kill her to get to where he wants to go.