America and her ships may change, but the Monroe boys are always drawn to the sea. Once captured and enslaved in Tripoli, Thomas Watson has escaped at last and vowed never to return. Susannah Wilcox secretly longs for adventure, and is thrilled when she is sent to Naples to finish her education. Jules Monroe is freeborn, but longs to prove to himself and the wider world that he is a man, out on the sea with his cousin Samuel. Their stories all meet in 1803 aboard the Philadelphia, a 36-gun frigate. Unfortunately, the ship has fallen into the hand of Barbery pirates, and such a powerful weapon will allow them to decimate the United States' fledgling navy.