Alan Craven makes the transition from college lecturer to international investigator purely by chance and in so doing encounters shipwreck, maritime piracy, murder, kidnap and romance. During a bizarre encounter on the North York Moors he volunteers to search for a missing woman, a woman he has known since childhood. The trail leads initially to Spain then on to Gibraltar and Malta. The story then moves on to New Zealand and Papua New Guinea before finally coming to an end back in Gibraltar.