When a young military officer named Perry meets renegade lady-pirate, Charlotte Law, they are immediately drawn together by their lust for riches. Armed with a map, a secret, and a strange little golden scarab, they embark on a quest for the treasures of the legendary Captain Kidd. Enlisting the help of a naïve Irishman named Finnegan, they journey from the dank opium dens to the lush barrier islands of old Charleston. And along the way, one of them will live an adventure that will eventually turn into one of the most haunting and memorable escapades to grace early American literature.