Peter Blood, an Irish physician and former soldier, is happily settled in an English town in the 1680s when the rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth catches him by accident. He saves a man's life, as a doctor must try to do, but the man is a rebel. The infamous Judge Jeffreys sentences him to ten years as an indentured slave in the Caribbean colonies.

Once there, his skills as a physician are recognized, and he meets and falls in love with the daughter of the man who owns his servitude. A Spanish ship attacks the town, and while the Spaniards celebrate their victory, he boldly steals their ship. He and his fellow convicts sail off to become the boldest and most fearless of pirates among the islands and on the Spanish Main.

But all the glory of his adventures cannot help him, for the woman he loves cannot love a "thief and pirate." Even when he destroys England's enemies, even at his most triumphant... but wait! Is that...?

The classic novel of adventure and romance, and one of Sabatini's best.