Set in the early 19th century amid the ships and seamen of a nascent United States Navy, Lieutenant Matty Graves is recovering from his ordeal during the slave rebellion in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue when he is ordered to Washington to answer questions about the death of his former captain. On home soil he must deal with the mystery and shame surrounding his birth as well as the attractions of his best friend's sister. But when he is offered a command of his own, he seizes the opportunity to seek his fortune and make a name for himself, even if it means destroying those closest to him.

When Matty Graves, acting lieutenant in the newly formed U.S. Navy, agrees to become a spy in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, he plunges headlong into a brutal world of betrayal and double-cross beyond anything he's ever known. At first the bloody civil war between former slaves and their mixed-race overseers simply offers a way to test himself and a means to purge his guilt over the death of his former captain. But soon Matty is drawn into the heart of the conflict when he meets the flamboyant Juge and the mysterious Grandfather Chatterbox-and faces an interrogation by the brutal colonel known as "The Whip." White supremacists, cutthroat patriots and desperate rebels vie for control in the Colonial world's richest island. No one is what he seems, and Matty must sort out the twisted lies from the cold, hard truth-and keep himself alive long enough to learn from his mistakes.

This first book in the series introduces Matty Graves, midshipman in the early years of the United States Navy. In 1799, the young U.S. Navy faces France in an undeclared Quasi-War for the Caribbean. Matty Graves is caught up in escalating violence as he serves aboard the Rattle-Snake under his drunken cousin, Billy. Matty already knows how to handle the sails and fight a ship. Now, with the sarcastic Lieutenant Peter Wickett as his mentor and nemesis, he faces the ironies of a war where telling friend from foe is no mean trick.