The year is 1775. America is fighting for independence.
In a time of war and revolution John Paul Jones is trying to rebuild his life. Behind him is a sparkling career at sea which ended when he lost his temper with a mutinous seaman in Tobago. For twenty months he has dreamed of abandoning the sea for ever and settling down as a planter. But his sweetheart rejects him, his dreams are shattered. His friends urge him to return to the sea. America, now in rebellion, needs sailors.
He refuses, until the brutal British sacking of a coastal hamlet rouses his sense of justice - and vengeance. And from that day onwards, John Paul Jones would devote himself to the birth of a nation and the birth of the American navy.