Angel is a young able seaman aboard a three-masted schooner, when a charismatic leader needs his help to transport five men, more than a dozen women and their children to an abandoned fort. They all hope to escape the breakdown of society in a community guided by faith, hope and loyalty. Among the children is a girl with sea-bright eyes and her little sister. More than twenty years later, Angel returns in his own ship to find out how they all fared, triggering a spate of murderous violence that threatens to destroy the little community and Angel with it.