Just after its crew rescues an alchemist named Radley Timmons from a ship’s wreckage, the occasionally piratical Wayward Grace is pursued through a magical storm by the Anglican Navy, and the company ends up stranded on an island ringed by impassable mountains with an injured captain. Crewman Keyfer Lockswit considers the diverse crew his family but cannot deny the attraction he has for their newest arrival — an attraction that proves mutual. But Radley has a secret, and the Navy wants it badly. So the crew is split: are they better off where they are or should they invent some way of escape? And if the crew of the Grace does find a way off the island, will Keyfer and Radley's blossoming love survive?