How do you cope when your darkest, most frightening fantasies become indistinguishable from reality? Worse still, when you're part of the crew of a Royal Naval destroyer.

This disturbing condition is only one of the many challenges facing Leading Seaman Rosie Winterbourne as her life spins out of control. But she is not the kind of girl who surrenders to illness and misfortune. Abandoned by the navy and everyone she cares about, Rosie finds solace in the renovation of her father's old yacht.

What starts as a welcome distraction, however, soon becomes a driven obsession, leading to life-changing events and astonishing discoveries about herself and her past.