What has a new sailboat designed to resemble the old Chesapeake Bay Schooner, ancient relics from the early days of the Roman Empire, and a stray cat with an uncanny ability have to do with each other? Captain Ben Bass and Sam Ko, the owner of Windward Islands Bare Boats, form a new company to enter in the luxury cruise industry, only to have one of their captains become a murder victim. As Ben Bass tries to make sense of the crime, he becomes a target and almost loses his own life twice and on two different islands nearly 5,000 miles apart. The Caribbean is only a small stage in the tragedies that have plagued the world-wide luxury cruise industry. While many people enjoy cruising vacations without incident, there nevertheless appears to be an inordinate number of cruise line accidents at sea -- accidents that may have been the result of an organized attempt to profit from the misery of others. Like it or not, Ben Bass finds himself squarely in the middle of the action in this, his latest adventure.