It is August 1711 and Annie Jansz is sailing from Zeeland with her family to a new life in Java on board the East Indian ship Zuytdorp, cooped up in a tiny stinking cabin with her feckless father, pregnant mother and their servant, May. The voyage takes much longer than anticipated and disease, death and intrigue mean that Annie has to grow up fast. Her family starts to disintegrate and, increasingly, Francois, a young Norwegian midshipman, is the only person she can trust. In a violent storm, the Zuytdorp is wrecked; although both Annie and Francois survive, it is then that their struggles really begin.
