Charles McKenna is only eighteen when he and his fourteen-year-old sister are deported from Ireland. Mandy was raped, and Charles exacted revenge. Little sister takes the rap to save her brother from the hangman's noose. "She sure as hell didn't kill him. I killed the fat bastard myself!" They gain passage to America as indentured servants onboard a British sailing vessel. The youngsters experience hardship, intrigue, and romantic encounters on the way to a new home, America.