By making Nelson O'Cain his partner, Michael Gardiner has disinherited his daughter, Jerusha, who is in faroff Massachusetts, learning the skills of a herb-woman and midwife. So he devises the crazy idea of an arranged marriage with Nelson, to salve his conscience and set matters straight. Unconvinced, yet aware of the logic of a convenient arrangement, Nelson voyages from Borneo to Boston, bearing a letter to Jerusha that sketches out her father's proposal. Before she can make a decision that will change both their lives, a violent encounter in the dark of a rainy night intervenes. The dramatic outcome sends them back to the South China Sea and the Dragon Stone, in their ongoing quest for love and pirate treasure..