With a heavy heart, sixteen-year old Alice Davison boards a transatlantic steamship heading toward an unknown life in post-Civil War America. This dread soon blossoms into terror when she senses that there is someone, or something, lurking in the dark crevices of the ship. When a new friend mysteriously dies, Alice finds that her worst fears have come true: she and the other passengers are trapped on board with a creature straight out of a Gothic novel. Vampires, it seems, are all too real. Unfortunately, danger doesn't only prowl in the dark bowels of the ship. It also thrives in the sparkling rooms of first class and even hides in the murky waters of the Atlantic. And when she finds herself ensnared by a first-class passenger, enchanting Sir Henry Falkner, she can't even be sure whether he is her suitor or her enemy.