Isam Rais, captain of the xebec, ‘Sea Leopard,’ is on a swashbuckling adventure in the Mediterranean Sea. Battling unfriendly allies as much as his enemies, he plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with a much more powerful frigate, only to see victory snatched from his grasp by the resolution of the opposing captain. In debt and needing to repair his fortunes, he accepts a dangerous commission from the Dey of the Sallee Republic to hunt pirates—Muslim pirates—disloyal to the country that gives them refuge. Isam finds himself on the unpopular side in a battle of corsair against corsair. In the midst of storm and bloodshed, he is rescued by a mysterious veiled woman in a fateful meeting that will change his life forever.