A concentrated chamber-drama-at-sea. Leaving the awful penal colony of Botany Bay, Jack is disgruntled - something is amiss. He soon diccovers that a stowaway is on board, a female convict brought on board by one of the officers. Through no real fault of her own, she causes strife and dissension amongst the other officers, leaving Jack, with a new set of orders to carry out, in a towering fury while Stephen looks on and lends a sympathetic ear. At the core of the book is Clarissa's own awful story, related without self-pity or apology.