While growing up on a farm in New England, Zachary Bower does not have much time to Play. But when he is not doing chores and learning to read and write, he happily reenacts the glory of his brother's stories of fighting the British during the War of Independence.After his mother tragically died in 1789, Zachary's uncle invites him to his nextexpedition at sea. As the thirteen-year-old boy heads to sea in his uncle's barque, he becomes a competent sailor while enduring the rounding of Cape Horn and sailing to Spanish California. After Zachary is separated from his ship and injected into the crew of a Hawaii-bound schooner, the vessel is attacked soon after arriving off Maui, leaving Zachary and one other crew member as the only survivors. It is 1790 when Zachary, the schooner, and its weapons are acquired by Kamehameha. As Zachary eventually transforms into a Kamehameha warrior, he becomes immersed in fierce battles like the ones that once enveloped his childhood imagination.