During the Mozambique war for independence, three villages were obliterated and their people massacred. This novel explores what might have happened ten years later if there had been a single survivor who witnessed the genocidal destruction of one village. Tristi is a student completing her university internship aboard a cruise ship the Sibelius Symphony as it leaves Miami for a transatlantic crossing to Lisbon. She encounters Colonel Perreira and experiences a flood of memories. When she is accused of kidnapping his daughter, she turns to another passenger who can support her claims about the colonel. Amanda Bechtel Allmond had been a missionary nurse to Mozambique during the war and offers documentation of the colonel's past involvement in crimes against humanity. A judge from Portugal and a representative board the ship in the Azores to bring the colonel to justice. He attempts to take Tristi hostage and when that fails, he jumps overboard and swims to shore. In Lisbon, he locates his wife and daughter who are under police protection after leaving the ship. His daughter shoots him with his own gun. He is captured and held for trial. A year later he is stabbed to death in prison.