While attending a rowdy press conference at the historic Craigdarroch Castle, journalist Helene Unger once again finds herself in close proximity to a corpse. Despite threats to her own life, she is determined to unravel the murder of a wealthy man who attracted hate as much as money.

At the heart of the mystery is the sinking of the S.S. Clallam steamship in 1904, a real maritime distaster that claimed the lives of dozens of passengers off the coast of Victoria. More than one hundred years later, the rippling consequences of this tragedy continue to drag more victims to their deaths.