It's 1800, Ross (Rossalinde) Tremayne, cross-dressing privateer captain and witch, inherits two things from her embittered dying mother. One is David, a half-brother she never knew about, and the other is a task she doesn't want: to open a winterwood box, magically sealed by her distant ancestor. On Ross' side she has her rag-tag crew of barely reformed pirates, her conflicted new brother, the jealous ghost of her dead husband, a dashing piratical admirer, and a sexy wolf shapechanger. (Please don't ever call him a werewolf. Just don't!) Ranged against her are the Kingsmen, who would hang her for murder and piracy; the Mysterium, who would hang her for witchcraft, and a powerful agent of the Crown who fights magic with darker magic.