This is the story of Santos Alvarez, a boy of privilege raised in the upper class of Cuban colonial society in the early eighteenth century. His life changes abruptly when his loving father dies under mysterious consequences, and he finds that his family has been plagued with an ancient curse for centuries. Santos is then kidnapped by a bloodthirsty gang of pirates and forced to join their crew. The pirate's vessel is attacked by the Spanish, and Santos is thrown into the sea. He then finds himself shipwrecked on the desolate beaches of Southeast Florida, where he encounters the ancient people known as the Ais. Forced to assimilate or die, he befriends a man who's uncanny survival skills change his life forever. Santos and his men overcome all to become the most feared pirates in all of the Caribbean. The story includes an account of the famous 1715 Plate Fleet disaster in which an entire treasure fleet was lost on Florida's rocky east coast in a terrible hurricane. This is a story of innocence lost, romance, ghostly curses, survival, and triumph, all presented on a backdrop of the beautiful and forbidden coast of eighteenth century South Florida.