After a kidnapping goes awry, an heiress lands in the clutches of a San Francisco brigand

Angelica Liberty is on a tour of the Far East when she learns that her father is dying. None of her family’s vessels are in port, so she takes passage on a shabby old bark, the Lorraine Marie. The ship is passing through the San Francisco fog when pirates come over the side. They swarm the ship, killing the crew in an attempt to kidnap Angelica. But before she can be captured, she slips into the salty water below.

Angelica is found by Jeremy Drake, owner of the Lorraine Marie, which the pirates left to burn in the harbor. Drake is ruined, but all is not lost. In the rough-and-tumble world of the Barbary Coast—the most notorious red-light district in the country—fortunes can be won and lost in an instant. With Angelica at his side, Drake still has a chance to rule this city.