This story is about a young man named Walter, who finds himself aboard a privateer ship named the Tiger Shark, who is being pursued by a young woman by the name Adele, despite the fact that many sailors still considered woman bad luck and would likely throw her overboard if they found out. This book is placed in the time period of the Quasi war which was an undeclared war fought almost entirely at sea between the United States and France from 1798 to 1800, which broke out during the beginning of John Adams's presidency.